The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) said the importation of sugar should be transparent and consulted with stakeholders, stating that the country cannot produce enough sugar to satisfy domestic demand.
“[The] government should publicly disclose the figures used as basis for the computation of the volume of sugar to be imported, and ensure that the timing of the imported sugar’s arrival will not affect mill gate sugar prices,” NFSP president Enrique Rojas said in a statement yesterday.
Rojas said government measures will be appreciated by sugar farmers as they demonstrate a concern for their welfare.
“It is hardly comforting to read statements from the Sugar Regulatory Administration [SRA] apparently favoring traders in this latest export-import scheme,” Rojas said, referring to the SRA’s authorization of the importation of 240,000 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar.
An estimated 176,000 MT will fill any supply gaps that may emerge during the sugar milling off-season.
The SRA said the importation of refined sugar is expected to allow traders to recover their costs and earn small profits following the shipment of raw sugar to the United States.
Traders, who purchased local sugar at a premium price of P2,700 per bag, were granted the right to export sugar “at a loss” to the United States, in exchange for rights to import much cheaper sugar from the world market.
“Given that these traders [who participated in the US export trade] will also be given the chance to import refined sugar, the cost of money and other fees they incurred will probably give them just a little profit to recoup their expenses,” the SRA said in a statement earlier.
However, Rojas said SRA’s statement did not sit well with other industry stakeholders, considering that the supposedly “premium purchase price” of P2,700 per bag was lower than sugar prices in the previous crop year.
“The US export-import scheme is seen as a double-whammy in favor of traders because they were able to purchase local sugar at lower prices than last crop year and, at the same [time], these traders could profit more from the rights granted to them by SRA to import much cheaper sugar,” Rojas said.
Meanwhile, Rojas said the Confederation of Sugar Planters’ Associations, and the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines agreed to work jointly for the revision of the Sugar Industry Development Act of 2015, as well as to push for more consultative policy-making by the government, especially on sugar importation.
“We are confident that we can continue working for harmonious and mutually beneficial arrangements between the farmers and the workers,” Rojas said./WDJ