THE Philippines again obtained the same sugar quota from the United States under a preferential trade scheme for fiscal year (FY) 2019, which will kick off in October.
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday announced the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allocations for the next fiscal year. The Philippines was given a sugar quota of 142,160 metric tons raw value (MTRV), or 136,201 MT commercial weight, for FY 2019.
“These allocations are based on each country’s historical shipments to the United States,” the USTR said in a statement on July 17.
Countries authorized by the US to export sugar under the TRQ scheme may do so at lower duties.
The Philippines was given the third-largest allocation of the total 1.117 million MTRV in-quota quantity of the TRQ, next to the Dominican Republic and Brazil, which received 185,335 MTRV and 152,691 MTRV, respectively.
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) vowed that the Philippines would be able to fill up the sugar quota granted by the US for the fourth consecutive fiscal year.
Since FY 2015-2016, producers have been able to fill up the sugar quota allocated by Washington. In FY 2014-2015, the Philippines was able to export only half of its allocation to the US as El Niño slashed sugarcane output.
In the current fiscal year, Serafica said the Philippines has shipped three boatloads of raw sugar amounting to 85,086.77 MT.
Earlier, SRA Administrator Hermenigildo R. Serafica told the BusinessMirror that the fourth vessel that will carry the next round of the country’s outbound shipment to the US will arrive by the third week of July.
In June the SRA issued Sugar Order 12, which authorized the verification of the production of “A” sugar bound for the US market, from the previous two crop years.
Data obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that as of June 29—the deadline for verification—the SRA was able to validate 155,848.29 MT of “A” sugar.
Given this figure, Serafica said, the country will be able to ship its entire sugar allocation for FY 2018 and will even have a carryover volume for the next fiscal year.
The US Department of Agriculture announced on July 2 that its TRQ on raw cane sugar for FY 2019 is 1.117 million MTRV. The volume is the minimum to which the US is committed under the World Trade Organization’s Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture.