REFINED SUGAR output is now estimated to have dropped by 110,000 metric tons (MT) compared to production levels in the previous crop season to about 640,000 MT, with yields affected by early milling as well as unfavorable weather.
Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Acting Administrator Pablo Luis S. Azcona said in a briefing that milling output will fall by a “significant amount.”
“Since the raw sugar mills closed early, the refineries that rely on the raw mills for fuel also closed early, so that’s where our significant drop came from. I estimate almost a 100,000 metric tons drop in refined production,” he said.
Mr. Azcona said sugar refiners require bagasse — a byproduct of sugarcane crushing — to run their equipment. Bagasse was in short supply because the cane harvest was disrupted by bad weather.
“Every time a sugar mill restarts, malaki ang nawawala (much is lost). When they run out of sugarcane, there’s nothing to mill and they have to stop. They (cannot keep) consuming fuel,” he said.
Actual sugar production was 750,000 MT in the previous crop year.
Mr. Azcona said a decision to further import sugar will await validation of sugar inventory levels.
“We are thinking of new imports. However, as promised to the President, we will conduct all the necessary inventories first and find out if our computations are accurate,” he said.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., who is also the Secretary of Agriculture, has approved a recommendation by the SRA to import about 150,000 MT at most in response to forecasts of a supply shortfall.
Mr. Azcona said the supply of sugar is good until the end of August if no imports come in.
Separately, Mr. Azcona said he wants to impose a suggested retail price (SRP) for sugar, noting that some outlets are still retailing refined sugar for P110 per kilogram, beyond the SRA’s target range of between P85 and P90.
“Personally, I’ve been suggesting an SRP. Even our superiors are saying that it should be P85,” he said.
As of Tuesday, the prevailing price of refined sugar in Metro Manila was between P86 and P110 per kilo. Brown sugar was between P82 and P95, and washed sugar P78 and P90. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera