Sugarcane planters in Negros Occidental yesterday expressed fears of a potential sugar crisis, reporting a “substantial drop” in the price of sugar, quoting the current rate at P1,100 per bag.

“Small producers like us will never survive the price level of P1,100,” said Sadrico Cornelio of the Negros Farmworkers and Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Producers Federation.

He also claimed gross income has dropped an average P2,000, noting a decline in production.

Cornelio has since forwarded a list of demands to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), including a call for an investigation into dropping mill-gate prices, while retail prices remain high.

He also wants the House of Representatives and the Senate to conduct an inquiry into what he believes to be “the unabated smuggling of imported alternative sweeteners.”/DGB, WDJ