The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) is appealing to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to ensure that the retail price of sugar reflects the decline in its millsite price.
SRA Administrator Anna Rosario V. Paner said Filipino consumers should benefit from the continuous drop in the millsite price of sugar.
“I urge the DTI to check whether the retail price of raw and refined sugar has gone down, as the millsite price of sugar is declining. The SRA hopes that consumers would enjoy the drop in the price of sugar,” Paner told reporters in a recent interview.
She said the decline in the millsite price of sugar could be attributed to the increased entry of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the country last year.
“There has been a lot of excess corn in China, so the price of HFCS went down and then China exports to us at zero duty,” Paner said. “That’s why the price of sugar is dropping because there’s so much supply due to the importation of HFCS.”
Citing SRA data, Paner said the HFCS imported by the Philippines last year was estimated at 285,000 metric tons (MT), which is equivalent to some 5.7 million 50-kilogram bags (lkg). She said this volume displaced nearly 30 percent of the market share for locally produced refined sugar.
“This is the highest volume of imported HFCS since 2013. The equivalent volume of the HFCS imported in terms of bags is 5.7 million lkg,” Paner said.
“And in 2016, our refined-sugar production is around 20 million bags. So, it [HFCS] took away nearly 30 percent of the refined-sugar market and that’s a very big chunk,” she added.
SRA data as of February 12 showed that the composite price of sugar dropped to P1,488.68 per lkg, compared to the P1,720.23 per lkg recorded at the start of milling for crop year 2016-2017.
On a yearly basis, the current composite price of sugar is 18 percent lower than the P1,816.49 per lkg posted in February 2016, SRA data showed.
The latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the retail price of refined sugar and raw sugar as of March 7 reached P55 per kilogram and P44.50 per kilogram, respectively.
Based on the Department of Agriculture’s price watch data, the prevailing price of raw and refined sugar in Metro Manila reached P44 per kilogram and P56 per kg, respectively.
According to Paner, the retail price of raw and refined sugar should be lower by P5 following the recent decline in the millsite price of sugar.
She also said the DTI look into the possibility of implementing more stringent labeling regulations pertaining to products using HFCS.
“What if for example you are diabetic and then suddenly you experienced hypoglycemia and you want to increase your sugar level and the label for the soft drink states sugar ‘and/or’ HFCS,” she said.
On February 20 the SRA issued Sugar Order (SO) 3 outlining the guidelines regulating the entry of imported HFCS into the Philippines in its bid to stabilize sugar prices.
“HFCS is a type of sugar and/or that its importation affects the balance of supply of sugar in the country,” Paner said in SO 3.
“The unregulated importation of HFCS displaces the use of locally produced sugar and, thereby, negatively affects the balance of production, threatens the livelihood of industry workers and impedes the growth of the sugar industry,” she added.
Paner said the SRA is currently conducting a study on the correlation between sugar prices and the price of products containing sugar.
“I want to study the relationship of the fluctuation of sugar prices in relation to the price of pastries and other goods using sugar, such as pan de sal. Who benefits from the low price of sugar?” Paner said.
She said the SRA and the Food Nutrition Research Institute are mulling over the conduct of a study on the effects of HFCS on human health.