THE government is open to allowing local manufacturers to directly import sugar as a last resort to address their supply concerns of the sweetener.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. made the proposal during his meeting with the Philippine Chamber of Food Manufacturers Inc. (PCFMI) on Monday evening.
Under the said scheme, he said such an importation order will still need the approval of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and will only be used as an “emergency measure.”
Senate President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri proposed a similar reform to combat the supposed kickbacks worth P50 to P100 per bag of sugar made by some unscrupulous government officials for the importation of such food commodities.
Zubiri said that a company-specific importation can prevent such illegal activity.
Currently, the prices of local sugar are rising as local supply of the sweetener cannot keep up with its demand due to lower cane production and delay in import arrivals.
During his talk with PCFMI representatives, Marcos said the government is studying measures to increase local sugar supply to prevent disruption in operations of local manufacturers.
“Hopefully, we can get some concessions with the traders so that at least the pricing will be reasonable. The concern is the supply right now. I’ll make sure that there is sufficient supply in the country so that you can operate at full capacity,” Marcos told PCFMI representatives.
Currently, Marcos said there is still no need for the government to import sugar until October since there is still sufficient supply of sugar for now.
The importation, he said, may be needed to “stabilize the domestic price” of sugar.
In the long term, he said he will also push to boost the local production of sugar.
“We are doing all of these things to protect the jobs of workers in those industries,” Marcos said.