The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) decried the presumption of the Sugar Council and the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (Nacusip) that their recent pronouncement of no sugar importation until the next harvest was intended to curb the drop in mill gate prices.
SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said the claims from certain sugar groups that there is an oversupply of sugar that purportedly caused a drop in sugar prices are laced with malice, “unless it is their goal to announce an oversupply to purposely try and lower prices, for reasons they only know.”
“Sugar stock levels have been constant in the past couple of months,” Azcona said.
“There was no other intention for that announcement other than to stand by our mandate to be transparent and keep the stakeholders informed, and the Sugar Council would have known that if they attended stakeholders meetings being called by the DA [Department of Agriculture] and SRA instead of propagating lies through the media, to cause separation and instability within the industry,” Azcona said.
He reiterated that stocks of raw and refined sugar are at the proper levels, maintaining the needed buffers.
“As of November 10, our production of sugar is down by 61 percent, and we have prepared for this with the proper buffer supply, and as to their claims of oversupply for both raw and refined sugar, we are currently 35 to 37 percent below the levels recorded last year,” Azcona said.
Sugar Council and Nacusip’s statement that the declaration was meant to curb prices is their own opinion based on their skewed perception, he emphasized.
“I used to have respect for those so-called sugar leaders, who I thought were my friends since childhood, and I’ve always reiterated that I am a phone call away,” Azcona said.
“However, they would rather bring their concerns before the media to further destabilize the industry, then send a letter after the fact, and that does not sit well with me,” he added.
The SRA administrator said that if the Sugar Council wants to be informed of the plans and policies of the sugar industry, they should be attending consultative meetings instead of propagating false claims.
“It is also part of SRA’s charter that we have no hand in marketing and pricing of sugar, and this is known to all sugar stakeholders as well,” he said.
The DA and SRA’s announcement of no importation until the end of harvest, which is sometime in May or June depending on harvest circumstances, was simply an announcement for stakeholders, and nothing more.
“All the SRA and DA’s plans were discussed in stakeholder meetings led by DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, the last of which was August 6, but just like in other instances, the Sugar Council snubbed this meeting,” Azcona said./WDJ