Despite the adverse impact of El Niño on sugarcane production, the Philippines will export 136,201 metric tons (MT) of sugar to the US under the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) scheme next year, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said on Thursday.
SRA Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin said the agency will soon issue a new order which will authorize the export of sugar to the US for fiscal year (FY) 2016.
“To export to the US quota, which is a primary export market for Philippine sugar, the SRA will allow the shipment of ‘B’ or
domestic market sugar to the US up to a volume of [136,201 MT], which is the country’s regular US quota allocation,” Martin said in a statement.
The SRA said those who will export to the US using domestic sugar may replace the volume by importing raw or refined sugar from the world market.
Martin said she will issue the clearance for the release of their replacement sugar. The classification of their replacement sugar may either be “B” or “C” (reserve sugar), as determined by the SRA.
“It is to the national interest that the Philippines export to the US under its sugar quota allocation, while ensuring sufficient supply of sugar for the domestic market,” Martin explained.
According to the SRA, the export to the US using “B” sugar is open and voluntary to planters, planters associations or cooperatives, mills or refineries, mills of refineries associations, industrial users of sugar and sugar exporters, provided that they are registered with the SRA as an international trader for this crop year (CY).
Martin said the new order may be released for implementation by Friday.
In July the US Trade Representative provided the Philippines the third-largest allocation for raw value sugar at 142,160 MT under the TRQ scheme. Countries authorized by the US to export sugar under the TRQ scheme can do so at a low-tariff rate.
However, due to the foreseen decline of sugarcane production for CY 2015 to 2016, the SRA did not allocate “A,” or US quota sugar, for the period. It instead classified all output as “B” or domestic sugar.
Based on Sugar Order 1 released by the SRA in August, sugar production for the current CY may decline by 2 percent to 2.27 million metric tons (MMT), from 2.31 MMT recorded in CY 2014 to 2015 due to “unfavorable weather conditions” and reduction of sugarcane areas.
Martin, however, said the latest crop estimate of the SRA as of October 2015 revealed that the output may even be lower than the projected 2.27 MMT. She said the revised projected output of the SRA is currently at 2.228 MMT.