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PH to import sugar to augment ‘Odette’-induced shortfall
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MANILA – The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) will allow the importation of 200,000 metric tons (MT) of standard and bottlers grade (premium refined) sugar in anticipation of a shortfall.
Sugar Order No. 3 was signed following the result of the assessment on the damage and losses caused by Typhoon Odette to sugarcane crops in December last year, according to an SRA statement on Tuesday.
The pre-final crop estimate of raw sugar production is now down to 2.072 MT, less than the 2.099 MT pre-final crop estimate prior to “Odette”.
The lower level of raw sugar production as well as damaged sugar mills and refineries added to the factors considered by the board.
SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica said in a statement that the importation will cover the shortfall on the supply and “will leave the country with enough buffer stock to tide over until the start of the next milling season”.
The Philippine Association of Sugar Refineries also revised its refined sugar production forecast for Crop Year 2021-2022 to 16.748 million bags per ton cane (LKg/TC), down from the initial production estimate of 17.572 million LKg/TC before “Odette”.
“As the economy is once again starting to open up, the demand for raw sugar and refined sugar for January this year have also increased when compared to the same month in the three previous years. Hence the need to augment sugar stocks to ensure food security and availability of sugar,” Serafica said.
SRA explained that a crop year starts September 1 and ends August 31 of the following year.
Sugar mills and refineries generally stop operations around May to June and the mills start operations for the next season around September to October.
The refineries start around two weeks after the mills.
The DA previously said that importation will only be a last resort.
“Imports will only fill in the deficit or what cannot be produced locally as the country needs to rely less from other nations to improve its economy,” DA Secretary William Dar said in an earlier statement.