By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Two sugar groups are proposing to import only 350,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar, lower than the proposed 450,000 MT by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).
In a letter submitted by Panay Federation of Sugarcane Planters (Panayfed) and the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), they are proposing that the 350,000 MT sugar to arrive in two tranches at the end of the current milling season and at the start of season in September.
The groups’ stand is in collaboration with the statement given by Confederation of Sugar Producers Association President Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama, Jr., who also submitted a letter to the SRA last week, pushing for the importation of a more conservative volume of sugar.
Both sugar groups pointed out in their recommendation that the 350,000 MT will cover the two-month buffer stock to arrive after the current milling season, to minimize its effect on mill gate prices when regular milling begins in September.
Panayfed and NFSP also urged the SRA to program the importation in two tranches of 175,000 MT for each shipment to arrive in July and August, after almost all sugar mills have already stopped operations.
They also said the SRA should specify the volume of refined and raw sugar, based on assessment of market requirements, and the portion will go to the domestic market that will be earmarked for industrial and institutional consumers, with safeguards to ensure that the sugar goes to the intended markets.
Recently, the local group Save the Sugar Industry Movement opposed the proposed sugar importation, and warned that the unregulated entry of subsidized imported sugar would be disastrous to the local sugar industry as it could bring grave injustice and irreparable damage and losses to the local sugar industry.
The group lead convenor Wennie Sancho said 90 percent of the sugar farmers are agrarian reform beneficiaries who have soldiered on planting sugar even without receiving support from the government.
Sancho said the government should be more aggressive in pursuing unscrupulous sugar traders, hoarders and profiteers rather than importing sugar./DGB, WDJ