THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has issued guidelines for the testing of imported premixed beverages containing sugar that are classified under a different tariff heading and slapped zero tariff.
The SRA, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), issued Sugar Order 6, which covers “imported sugar containing ingredients, coloring and flavoring” that are declared under Tariff Heading 1701 and its subheadings.
Under the guidelines, premixed beverages containing sugar would be subjected to laboratory analysis to determine its sucrose content prior to the issuance of a clearance for release.
“For this purpose and to hasten the process, the importer, consignee or broker shall notify the SRA in writing at least two days before the scheduled arrival of the article and the appropriate date and time for its sampling,” SRA Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin said in the order.
SRA personnel will be designated to conduct the sampling and to send the sample to the SRA laboratory for analysis.
The order specified that if the analysis shows that the sample contains over 65 percent by dry weight of sugar, the SRA will advise the Bureau of Customs on the most appropriate tariff line for the articles being imported.
“The SRA shall classify the article as either ‘B,’ ‘C,’ or ‘D’ sugar and shall indicate the same in the clearance for release of imported sugar issued on the article,” the order read.
The agency noted the “considerable” increase in the volume of imported sugar containing coloring and/or flavoring entering the Philippines.
“Upon laboratory analysis conducted by the SRA on samples made available by importers, it was found that imported sugars with coloring and/or flavoring contain more than 99-percent sugar per unit,” the order noted.
Currently, premixed beverages enter the Philippines at zero duty even as sugar millers and farmers claim that these contain “99-percent” sugar. Local industrial users are the major importers of premixed beverages which are used to produce fruit juices and other flavored drinks.
Earlier, the Philippine Sugar Millers Association Inc. disclosed that local industrial users imported a total of 180,000 metric tons of premixed beverage mostly from Thailand in 2010.
Sugar millers and farmers contend that since these products contain mostly sugar, premixed beverages should be slapped the customary tariff of 38 percent, the duty imposed for sugar traded under a free-trade scheme among member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
