Sugar millers group: Shortage not artificial, stakeholders consulted on SO4

An official of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association, Inc. (PSMA) on Tuesday said the shortage of sugar supply in the country was not artificial and stakeholders were consulted on the issuance of Sugar Order No. 4, which would've allowed the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar.

At a Senate hearing, Senator Risa Hontiveros asked PSMA President Pablo Lobregat about the PSMA's view on the alleged artificial sugar shortage in the country.

"I do not believe that this is artificial," Lobregat said during the second Senate Blue Ribbon hearing on the "sugar fiasco."

Asked if he believed that sugar was being hoarded, Lobregat said "I cannot say none. Maybe there might be some."

The PMSA official explained that hoarding and smuggling are "symptoms" and not causes of a supply deficit.

Earlier, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the government would continue to inspect warehouses to determine whether or not the shortage in the supply of sugar was contrived.

Last week, Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said the shortage in the supply of sugar was artificial.

Panganiban said there was a significant chance that the price of sugar would go down if the supply illegally stored in warehouses was released to the market.

At the same hearing, Hontiveros also asked Lobregat to confirm if the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) had consulted stakeholders before the issuance of SO 4.

"I remember that all the stakeholders were consulted before the issuance of that order. I do not remember exactly or we do not know what the other consulted parties said but I remember, the PSMA did recommend 300,000 and I think I heard earlier that most stakeholders that were consulted more or less gave the same figure but not too far from there," Lobregat said.

However, Roland dela Cruz of the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (NACUSIP) said they were not consulted on SO4.

"For the record, we were not involved. We were not part of the consultation process despite the fact that we represent the workers in the sugar industry as well as I also sit as a member of the stakeholders' consultative assembly. But for the purposes of Sugar Order No. 4, we were not a part of the consultation process," Dela Cruz said.

At the early part of the day's hearing, resigned SRA chief Hermenegildo Serafica said that they had a consultation meeting with stakeholders on July 29 when they presented the facts of the situation and the prevailing prices in the market.

At the same meeting, Serafica said SRA also asked the stakeholders to submit their recommendations.

From July 29 to August 3, Serafica told Hontiveros that stakeholders did not object to the plan to import sugar and almost all had recommended importing 300,000 metric tons.

"The SRA, your honor, has complete data on the facts of our average demand for the last three crop years as far as raw sugar is concerned and as far as refined sugar is concerned. So they realized, upon seeing all of these, that they recommended almost the same 300,000 metric tons," Serafica said.

Hontiveros noted that only Delmax Trading disagreed with the proposal and recommended a slightly lesser amount of 250,000 metric tons.

On their recommendation to import 300,000 metric tons, Lobregat said they based it on the data that was provided by the SRA.

Lobregat attributed the rising prices of sugar to the temporary restraining order released by a Negros Occidental court directing the SRA to stop its plan to import 200,000 metric tons of sugar, meant to augment a projected shortfall and stabilize prices.

The 2022 national and local elections were also factors in the delay of action on the price increases in sugar.

"One of the causes of the prices going up was the delay caused by the TRO issued in Negros as what was supposed to come in March only came in practically in May. The other thing that happened was the elections caused paralysis in most government agencies until the new administration came online," Lobregat said.

"All these delays added up and now they are still crafting the Sugar Order No. 2 I think for this year and this... has all caused these prices to remain high," he added.

When there was a proposal to import 150,000 metric tons of sugar--or half of the proposed volume under SO4--Lobregat said he manifested during a meeting in Malacanang that "anything is better than nothing."

However, he still thought that this would not suffice to achieve a P70 per kilo sugar price.

Lobregat said the PSMA has yet to give recommendations on the planned importation of 150,000 metric tons of sugar. — DVM, GMA News