SRA allots entire sugar crop for local use

Sugar Regulatory Administration head office in Diliman, Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines — The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has allocated the country’s entire sugar production for the current crop year for domestic consumption, a move welcomed by industry stakeholders as this would improve their income.

In Sugar Order (SO) No. 1 for crop year 2024-2025, the SRA projected sugar production for the period to reach 1.78 million metric tons (MT).

It lowered the sugar output estimate “due to the anticipated negative effect of the prolonged El Niño phenomenon; unless the La Niña phenomenon brings about an increase in production.”

SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said earlier that local production could improve if increased rain due to La Niña would occur in the last quarter of this year as predicted and improve the cane yield.

La Niña’s effects

“It will increase the tonnage and hopefully, our sugarcanes will grow longer because it has enough water,” Azcona said. “With the rains coming, if La Niña comes, hopefully we can recover.”

The SRA pegged total domestic raw sugar withdrawal at 2.20 million MT more or less, leaving a supply shortfall of around 420,000 MT.

The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NSFP) expressed its appreciation and lauded SRA’s “good move,” which, according to the group, “traditionally brings a more favorable price for producers, compared to other classifications of sugar.”

“We are hoping that the weather for the rest of the crop year will be favorable to give us an opportunity to recover the projected production shortfall,” NFSP president Enrique Rojas said.

The sugar order was signed by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., who is also the SRA board chair; Agriculture Undersecretary Roger Navarro as alternate ex-officio chair; Azcona; and SRA board members Ma. Mitzi Mangwag and David Andrew Sanson.

Periodic assessments

The SRA said it would undertake periodic assessments of the current crop year, which began on Sept. 1 and would end on Aug. 31, 2025.

“Based on such assessments, SRA may from time to time adjust the percentage allocation/distribution to other classes of sugar in accordance with its power and function and to establish domestic, export and reserve allocation,” the order released on Sept. 9 read.

The SRA classifies the sugar produced in the country at the beginning of every crop year: “A” for export to the United States, “B” for domestic use, “C” as reserve sugar that can be converted into other classifications later and “D” for export to the world market.

Before the issuance of SO No. 1, the last few shipments made by the country was in crop year 2020-2021, when it delivered 112,008 metric tons commercial weight of raw sugar to the US market.

Then, in the past month, the country shipped 25,300 MT of raw sugar, which was loaded into cargo vessel Tate J.