Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief David John Thaddeus P. Alba said the 150,000 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar approved for importation is a “stopgap measure” that will help ease the sugar supply crunch.
Alba said the first import program for crop year 2022-2023 under Sugar Order (SO) 2 is a “temporary solution” to the tightness in the country’s sugar supply as the projected raw sugar output remains lower than the anticipated demand. He added that the SRA expects local sugar refineries to begin operating next month.
“To also address the tightness of our sugar supply, the Sugar Board passed an importation program to serve both the industrial users and consumers. This import program is just a stopgap measure because we expect supply from the mills to flow into the market as refineries are expected to be in full operation by next month,” he said in a statement on Wednesday, a day after the board issued SO 2.
“In fact, some sugar mills have already started milling and we will soon see a steady supply of sugar. Nevertheless, SRA is regularly monitoring the supply and demand situation so we can act accordingly.”
The SRA board issued two Sugar Orders last Tuesday: SO 1, which allocated all raw sugar output in the current crop year for domestic use, and SO 2, which authorized the importation of 150,000 MT of refined sugar.
Under SO 1, the SRA projected that total raw sugar output in crop year 2022-2023 may reach only 1.876 million MT, about 154,000 MT short of the estimated total demand of 2.03 million MT. This is now the second consecutive crop year that the Philippines allocated all its raw sugar output for domestic use due to lackluster output.
The two SOs were personally signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the chairman of the SRA board as he is the concurrent Agriculture Secretary. The documents were also signed by Alba, Ma. Mitzi V. Mangwag (sugar millers’ representative), Pablo Luis S. Azcona (sugar planters’ representative) and Senior Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban.
The two SOs were filed by the SRA with the Office of the National Administrative Register (ONAR), UP Law Center on Tuesday afternoon, together with SO 1. SO 2 will take effect three days after it has been filed.
Under SO 2, the 150,000-MT refined sugar imports would be equally divided between industrial users and consumers. The eligible participants for the import program are all duly registered SRA international sugar traders in good standing for crop years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 and with renewed registration for crop year 2022-2023. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/09/14/pbbm-oks-importation-of-150000-mt-of-sugar/)
“After taking into consideration all comments, inputs and information the SRA deems it necessary to adopt additional, responsive, pre-emptive measures to ensure domestic supply and manage sugar prices, in order to achieve the foregoing policy declarations through timely government intervention by way of importation in order to maintain a balanced supply and demand of sugar for domestic consumption,” according to SO 2, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror.
SO 2 stipulated that the import program “shall be open and available for consumption by all industrial users and consumers.”
It defined industrial users as food, confectioneries, biscuits, bread, candies, milk, juice, and beverage manufacturers that use refined sugar in the production of their finished products for sale exclusively in the domestic market.
Meanwhile, consumers, based on SO 2, shall refer to wholesalers and traders engaged in selling sugar in bulk to retailers and retailers refer to individuals selling sugar in small quantities to the general public for consumption.