Sugar agency pushes P85 per kilo sugar retail price

PRIZED COMMODITY Refined sugar sells for only P70 a kilo during the April 3 launching of the affordable sugar program at the Bacolod City government center. —BACOLOD CITY PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY — The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) is appealing to retailers to sell refined sugar at a suggested retail price (SRP) of P85 per kilo amid complaints that some, particularly in Metro Manila, are still selling at P110 per kilo.

“We have enough sugar supply. I don’t see any reason why retailers can’t bring their prices down to a much more affordable rate for our consumers,” said SRA Acting Administrator Paul Azcona in a statement on Friday, June 9.

The SRA, he said, has no powers to enforce the SRP, so he urged other government agencies and local governments to monitor and implement the SRP of P85 per kilo of refined sugar.

He also asked the public to patronize Kadiwa Rolling Stores, where sugar is sold at a much lower price of P70 per kilo.

Azcona said mill gate prices are averaging P60 per kilo and even with the added cost of refining sugar, hauling, repacking, and retailing, everyone is profiting enough to make it available to the consuming public at P85 per kilo.

“Most, if not all mills, have closed and the SRA is … collating domestic production figures to determine the amount of sugar that needs to be imported to serve as buffer [when] the planned re-opening of the milling season will be moved to the proper start of the new crop, which is September 1, to increase productivity,” he said.

Azcona added: “The constant move to mill earlier than September has led to a decrease in yield from immature cane milled, to the detriment of the farmer as it makes the country more dependent on imports.”

Some sugar mills, he said, ended their operations early because they lack bagasse, the dry pulpy residue left after the extraction of juice from sugar cane and used as fuel to power their mills.

“With this new development, we are studying closely if delaying the next milling season will help our production before we make the necessary recommendations,” Azcona said.

In an interview with Inquirer on Friday, Azcona said production of refined sugar dropped by 100,000 metric tons (MT) this crop year because of the early closure of the refineries.

“The government is considering the importation of an additional 150,000 MT of refined sugar before September 15,” he said.

Of the 440,000 MT of refined sugar earlier approved for importation, Azcona said 240,000 MT had arrived in the country.

The additional 200,000 MT, he said, would arrive before September this year.

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