By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

An official from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) expressed his surprise after retail prices of raw and washed sugar rose to P90 per kilo.

“Raw and washed sugar had a surprising increase to P90 (per kilo) but farm gate prices have hovered from P60 to P65. So the retail price has no connection with the supply anymore,” SRA board member and planters’ representative Pablo Luis Azcona said.

Azcona blamed traders for the spike in retail prices.

“The farm gate price of raw sugar was only at P63 per kilo last week. This has nothing to do with our farmers,” he said.

Based on SRA’s data in September, the prices of raw and washed sugar were almost P70 per kilo.

At the same time, he said the prevailing price of refined sugar increased to P95 per kilo, which is within the suggested retail price of P90.

The SRA official said the country has ample stocks of sugar with the arrival of 150,000 metric tons of imported sugar in November 2022.

“We still have a lot of imported refined sugar in stock. The raw supply is at par with last year. The so-called shortage played up by industrials is long gone,” he said.

As of November 27, the country’s total stocks of refined sugar was at 224,030 metric tons (MT), while raw sugar was at 195,390 MT, data from the SRA showed./DGB, WDJ