By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) is set to release a new order which would address the tight sugar supply currently being experienced in the country.
SRA’s acting administrator David Thaddeus Alba said they would first issue Sugar Order No. 1 (SO1) by next week for the allocation of sugar for the year and to compensate the lack of supply, followed by Sugar Order No. 2 (SO2) which would be regarded for importation.
“What we have right now is we need to import 150,000 metric tons of sugar,” Alba said.
Currently, Alba said the Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines is running out of bottler-grade sugar supply, while Pepsi Philippines and RC Cola Philippines still have enough supply.
When asked if some of the bags of sugar that have been placed under litigation could be released to address the supply, Alba pointed out that they cannot be released as they are being investigated.
“Disposal of the bags [can only be done] after the investigation,” he explained.
As for filling the United States (US) quota, Alba said it “still matters” although he noted that with the current situation right now, they could not comply.
“We will write to the [United States Department of Agriculture], that because of the critical situation of the sugar industry right now, we cannot comply with the US quota,” he added./DGB, WDJ