DA, SRA defer sugar importation decision until mid-2025

The Department of Agriculture (DA) and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) have delayed their decision on sugar importation following the stable domestic supply of raw and refined sugar in the country.

"Given the current situation, Administrator Azcona and I agreed that a decision on sugar importation could be delayed until after May, when the current harvest season ends," Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.

"Our supply for both raw and refined sugar is stable, and we are just beginning our harvest season, so Sec. Laurel and I agree to delay the decision on sugar imports until after harvest sometime in May,” SRA administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said.

Azcona, however, said due to El Niño, the current harvest season began slowly, with a total cane volume of a third of the amount harvested around the same period in the last crop year.

"Farmers had to delay their harvests to allow the cane to mature further and increase sugar content," Azcona said.

The country experienced the El Niño phenomenon from July 2023 to June 2024.

According to DA, the prolonged dry spells brought by El Niño caused the cane to be physiologically immature, resulting in a 16% lower sugar content per ton of cane.

This resulted in the constraining sugar output despite an increase in planting areas.

Based on the SRA data, the area planted for sugar cane this year increased slightly to 389,461 hectares from 388,378 hectares the previous crop year.

SRA estimated that the country’s sugar production this year would drop by 7.2% or to 1.782 million metric tons.

Meanwhile, the US Agriculture Department projected that Philippine raw sugar production would decline by 3.6% for the current crop year.

This is equivalent to 1.85 million metric tons from 1.92 million metric tons in the previous crop year.

The current crop year ends in August next year, DA said. — Mariel Celine Serquiña/BM, GMA Integrated News