By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah
THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) may have to issue a suggested retail price (SRP) on sugar if the agency really intends to stabilize prices of the commodity, the country’s trade chief said on Tuesday.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez also said that as much as the trade department wants to manage the supply and control the prices of sugar, the law provides the commodity falls within the responsibility and jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture. Citing the Price Act, he argued sugar is a basic good under the regulation of the DA, not the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Under the law, agricultural crops, fish and other marine products, fresh meat, fresh poultry and dairy products, fertilizers and other farm inputs are all under the DA’s watch.
“We would like to clear once and for all that the DTI can regulate the retail price of sugar in the market only if we are given authority to do so by the DA, or the SRA. Without this authority, [the] DTI can only monitor its supply and availability,” Lopez said in a news statement.
The statement was issued in response to allegations made by SRA board members that the DTI is not doing its part in the monitoring and regulation of sugar prices.
In defense, Lopez said his agency last year recommended to the DA and the SRA the imposition of an SRP on refined sugar at P50 per kilogram to keep prices managed in the face of surging inflation. However, nearly a year later, the SRP is nowhere in place.
Sans an SRP, the DTI continues to monitor prices of the commodity, and issues letters of inquiry to retailers found selling at a price higher than P50 per kilo, Lopez said.
“We assure the consumers that our agency remains faithful to our true mandate. We have [reaped] success[es] in managing prices for manufactured products that are in the list of basic necessities and prime commodities, even during the inflationary months last year, because these [goods] are under the mandate of [the] DTI,” the trade chief explained.
On top of price monitoring, Lopez added the DTI initiated last August the Presyong Risonable Dapat, a mechanism enabling retailers to directly import sugar for as long as they sell at prices not higher than P45 per kilo for brown sugar and P50 per kilo for white sugar.
These sugar variants are sold at Robinsons Supermarket and SM Supermarket branches across the Philippines. On the other hand, Puregold is in the process of sourcing sugar for its house brand that will be made available to consumers at P50 per kilo soon.
Trade Undersecretary Ruth B. Castelo said the DTI has the capacity to monitor any commodity, as it has offices and teams stationed in all regions and provinces of the Philippines.
She argued it is crucial to do a close watch on agricultural products due to the volatility of their prices. Should the DA need it, Castelo said the DTI is most willing to lend its manpower in the monitoring of the staple among the products under its mandate.