Philippine sugar production as of May 28 has already reached 2.333 million metric tons (MMT), surpassing both the government’s projection and the output in the previous crop year (CY), data from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) showed.
Preliminary data from the SRA, a government-owned and -controlled corporation attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA), showed that sugar production has reached 46.667 MMT of 50-kilogram bags (Lkg) or 2.333 MMT.
The figure is 4.24 percent higher than the 2.238 MMT produced in the previous crop year. It is also 3.68 percent higher than the SRA’s projection of 2.25 MMT.
Earlier SRA Administrator Anna Rosario V. Paner told the BusinessMirror that sugar production will go up due to the expansion of areas planted with sugarcane.
Also, Paner said more farmers were encouraged to plant sugarcane this year due to the favorable price of sugar at the start of CY 2016-2017.
Based on the preliminary estimate of SRA, sugarcane areas in the current crop year expanded by 1.87 percent to 419,207 hectares, from 411,502 hectares recorded in the previous crop year.
SRA data also showed that, as of May 28, the volume of sugarcane milled has reached 25.851 MMT, 11.74 percent higher than the 23.135 MMT recorded a year ago.
However, data from the SRA showed that the sugar-milling recovery rate declined by 6.19 percent to 1.82 Lkg per MT, from 1.94 Lkg/MT recorded in CY 2015-2016.
Refined sugar production also declined by 11.3 percent to 809,641 MT (16.192 Lkg), from 911,084 MT (18,221,688 Lkg).
The SRA said domestic demand for sugar during the nine-month period was pegged at 1.55 MMT, 2.8 percent higher than the year-ago level of 1.5 MMT.
The SRA estimated the domestic demand for sugar in CY 2016-2017, which would end on August 31, would hit 2.15 MMT.
Sugar produced locally is also exported to the US under the tariff rate quota (TRQ) scheme. The TRQ allows countries to export specified quantities of a product to the US at a relatively low tariff.
Earlier the SRA said the country has already shipped 74,464.99 MT of sugar to the US, filling more than half of the 136,201 MT allocated by Washington. Paner said she expects local sugar exporters to ship the remaining volume to the US by June.