Philippines plans to import 200,000 MT refined sugar

Photo: Reporter's Notebook

The Philippines plans to import around 200,000 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar later this year to fill an anticipated supply gap and ensure stability of the commodity’s prices.

“Well, magkakaroon tayo ng importation sa sugar, if you want to know. Dapat by September, may arrival tayo, at least 200,000 (metric) tons, refined, for the gap before harvest and refining,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. told reporters in a dinner chat.

(Well, we will be having an importation of sugar, if you want to know. By September, we should have an arrival of at least 200,000 MT of refined sugar, for the gap before harvest and refining.)

The Agriculture chief said the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) are scheduled to have a meeting to formalize the planned importation next month.

“We've been talking about it for six months,” Tiu Laurel said.

“That’s the deficit as we foresee the current stocks will go down by August, September so we’d have a gap sugar of 200,000 [metric] tons at least by September, October,“ he said.

In a statement to reporters, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona confirmed that the sugar industry regulator will meet with Tiu Laurel “to discuss and update the Secretary of our stock levels and determine when we need to activate this plan.”

Azcona said that the importation was planned as early as January and was formally signed on March 8, 2024, under Sugar Order No. 2 on the pre-qualification of possible importers by having them pre-qualify by buying local farmer sugar first.

“This program pre-qualified an import volume of almost 200,000 [metric] tons of refined sugar,” the SRA head said, adding that “we have pre-qualified and pre-allocated based on their actual support for the local farmers.”

Azcona said the import plan will be activated should the trigger stock level be reached to ensure a stable supply and price for retail and industrial consumers, as well as to ensure that farmers will not be affected.

“We also have to bear in mind that the five million farmers, farm workers, their families, and people dependent on the sugarcane industry are also 100% retail consumers,” the SRA head said.

In December last year, the Agriculture chief said he was eyeing limiting the importation of sugar to 200,000 metric tons (MT) this year.

Prior to Tiu Laurel’s appointment at the helm of the Agriculture Department last year, the agency was plagued by two sugar importation-related controversies.

The United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED), meanwhile, expressed support for the planned importation.

“This will fill in the shortage before the harvest season starts in September. Harvest this coming crop year will be delayed due to El Niño and when we were consulted about this matter, we approved the proposal,” UNIFED President Manuel Lamata said in a statement. —VAL/VBL, GMA Integrated News

This article Philippines plans to import 200,000 MT refined sugar was originally published in GMA News Online.