Group urges DTI to resolve local sugar prices woes

Rather, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), along with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), should resolve the issue of sugar prices as they are mandated without killing the local sugar industry. (Pixabay Photo)

MANILA — The Confederation of Sugar Producers (Confed) reiterated its position that importation is not the answer to reported high cost of domestic sugar.

Rather, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), along with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), should resolve the issue of sugar prices as they are mandated without killing the local sugar industry.

Confed said the DTI should utilize its mandate through the Price Act where they can provide price ceiling under section (3) (d), to all other basic necessities and prime commodities.

Sugar is a commodity that falls under basic needs in the section 3 (1) of the Price Act.

The DTI, together with the SRA, under the Department of Agriculture (DA), can establish the proper retail price range and provide the buying public together with local food manufacturers affordable sugar prices.

“This avenue can perhaps provide the win-win solution sought after by government,” Confed spokesperson Raymond Montinola said in a statement on Tuesday.

He added they have issued then an invitation and are reiterating “for local food manufacturers to buy directly their sugar requirements from sugar districts and associations nearest their supply hubs to avail of the low farm gate prices and avoid middlemen to further minimize on cost.”

This was in reaction to the recent pronouncements of DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez, urging the SRA Board to allow food processors who sell to domestic markets to import sugar if “local sugar prices cannot match import prices for the sweetener.”

Lopez earlier said food processors need to be able to purchase domestic refined sugar at PHP1,900 per bag, instead of the PHP2,500 or PHP3,000 they sometimes pay.

The SRA reported the mill gate price of refined sugar rose 3.47 percent year-on-year to PHP1,514 per 50-kilo bag in the first week of December, while retail prices ranged from PHP45 to PHP50 per kilo, were down from PHP54 to PHP62.

“Prices should be reduced at the retail market and not against the lowly sugar farmer,” Montinola said, adding there is no need to import since there has been an importation of 250,000 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar that should have stabilized sugar prices.

“We seek clarification with regards to domestic prices, stock balances and availability of sugar as raw materials for both local manufacturers and food processor exporters so we can have a better picture to address this issue,” he added.

Former SRA Administrator Bernardo Trebol, on the other hand, said everyone knows sugar farming is a plantation crop that will survive only with economies of scale and “we are lucky to have sustained livelihood for our farmers in general. But further pressure to reduce our farm gate prices might be the last straw that will break the camel’s back.”

Meanwhile, Confed Negros and Panay chairman Nicolas Ledesma Jr. said with regard to food processor exporters “they are given import permits by SRA for their sugar supply requirements provided that the finished products are solely for export.”

“We hope that DTI will also see our side in this issue and resolve it with lawful tools they have on hand rather than incessantly calling for importation as a quick fix solution,” Ledesma said. (PR)