The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said it is mulling over a suggested retail price (SRP) for sugar to protect consumers from unscrupulous traders who have taken advantage of a shortage of the sweetener required by beverage makers.
SRA Administrator Hermenigildo R. Serafica told the BusinessMirror that he will propose to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol the inclusion of sugar in the list of farm products covered by the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) SRP scheme.
Serafica added that he and Piñol have initially discussed the inclusion of sugar during consultations held by the DA on the implementation of the SRP scheme.
“Sugar will be included in the SRP,” he said via SMS. “SRA will make its recommendation.”
Serafica said the “high” retail price of sugar today is brought about by “the erroneous perception being circulated by enterprising individuals that there is a shortage in sugar.”
“The shortage is in the bottlers’ grade or premium refined sugar required by beverage companies, such as Coke. This type of sugar has very specific quality requirements and standards that can be met by only a handful of sugar refiners in the Philippines,” he said in a statement issued over the weekend.
“Some are taking advantage of the issue of the lack of sugar for bottlers and using this to propagate high prices even for standard refined and raw sugar, which has no shortage. Even though farm-gate prices have started to go down, retail prices remain high,” he added.
Serafica said the government-owned and -controlled corporation of the DA has already notified a grocery chain “with exorbitant prices well beyond the prevailing prices.” The “grocery chain” has been required to reply within five days upon receipt of the notice.
As of July 10 the prevailing price of raw sugar is P50 per kilogram in Metro Manila wet markets, while it costs P55 per kg in supermarkets. The retail price of refined sugar in Metro Manila-based wet markets is at P65 per kg, while those sold in supermarkets is pegged at P64 per kg.
The prevailing retail price of raw sugar in the market today is P8 higher than the average of P47 per kg recorded at the start of the year, according to SRA data. The prevailing price of refined sugar has gone up by at least P10 per kg since January.
On a yearly basis, the prevailing retail price of raw sugar rose by P10 per kg, while that of refined sugar grew by P12 per kg, SRA data showed.
The SRA has allowed the importation of 200,000 metric tons of sugar to plug the shortfall in local production. Of the volume, 100,000 MT was allocated for bottlers’ grade refined sugar; 50,000 MT, standard grade refined sugar; and 50,000 MT, raw sugar for domestic consumption.
Earlier, Piñol said the country’s total sugar production in the current crop year ending August 31 may fall below the SRA’s estimated output of 2.27 MMT by as much as 200,000 MT. This means that total sugar production may settle at around 2.07 MMT, 17.2 percent lower than the 2.5 MMT produced in the previous crop year.