Negros sugar planters seek gov’t help as prices plummet

HARVEST TIME | Workers load on a truck the freshly cut sugar cane from a plantation in Barangay Blumentritt, Murcia town, Negros Occidental during the harvest season in October 2023. Millgate prices of sugar have however dropped this December, causing worry among the province’s sugar producers. (Photo by RONNIE BALDONADO / Contributor)

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines — Sugar industry players have called for a “much-needed intervention” from the national government following the drop of millgate sugar prices way below the comfortable profit margin for producers, particularly small farmers.

Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines, asked for the intervention of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. as millgate sugar prices continued to plummet at P2,500 per 50-kilo bag in the past two weeks in Negros and even lower at P2,300 in Bukidnon.

The provinces of Negros Occidental and Bukidnon are the country’s two leading sugar producers.

The current prices were below the price levels of P3,200 in the same period last year, he said.

‘Disconcerting’

“This is very disconcerting because millgate prices are now at P50 per kilo, which is way lower than our production costs,“ Lamata said in a statement on Sunday.

According to Lamata, the cost of producing a bag of sugar already averages at P2,500.

On the other hand, retail prices continued to remain at P80 to P85 per kilo and the farmers were clearly not profiting from the local market prices, he noted.

Lamata also pointed out that fuel and fertilizer prices were on the rise and “if this continues, we cannot sustain the situation and farmers may not be inclined to produce for next year’s milling season.”

‘Help us’

He said that consultation among the various sugar associations under their umbrella has led to an urgent appeal for the national government to intervene and buy their sugar.

“Please help us and the five million dependents of the sugar industry who will clearly not be enjoying the holidays under this condition and we fear that many workers will be displaced and their dependents will go hungry,” Lamata said.

He said most farmers were hoping that the pronouncements of the President that sugar prices should not go down below P3,000 would start to kick in.

“We know President Marcos’ heart is with and for the farmers, as he has told us so, and we are calling for his intervention on this matter,” he added.

Enrique Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, said they were not happy with the way sugar prices had turned out.

“We were expecting that prices will recover to within the P3,000 per bag level, but it appears unlikely,” he said.

“More mills are now operating, adding more sugar supply to what has already been in the warehouses since the middle of this year. More supply is becoming available in the market, but demand remains the same,” Rojas added.

Aurelio Gerardo Valderama, president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers, said the millgate prices have dropped because there is too much sugar in the market.