SRA floats possibility of another sugar importation

On the heels of the approval of up to 150,000 metric tons (MT) additional importation of sugar, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on Tuesday floated the possibility of another round of sugar importation should local production and the previous importations still fall behind demand.

At a press briefing, SRA Acting Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said the agency is hopeful that its downwardly revised raw sugar production estimate of 1.831 million MT in crop year 2022-2023 will still be hit.

“Just in case, by May 30, if we determine talagang kulang (not enough), we will import a small (volume),” Azcona said.

As of May 7, total raw sugar production was at 1.76 million MT.

The SRA acting chief made the remark a day after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the importation of up to 150,000 MT additional sugar.

According to SRA forecast inventory, the country will have a negative ending stock of 552,835 MT by the end of August 2023, the end of the milling season. The SRA said the importation of another 100,000 MT to 150,000 MT of sugar is necessary to avert a shortfall.

The agency also said that although the country has sufficient supply of raw sugar with a beginning stock of 160,000 MT as of May 7, it will still need to import an additional 100,000 to 150,000 MT of sugar by this year.

This is because, according to the SRA, the expected local production of 2.4 million MT and the 440,000 MT allowed to be imported under Sugar Order No. 6, as well as the 64,050 MT under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) mechanism, are insufficient to cover the 3.1-million MT demand.

Azcona explained that “actual volume, schedules, and details for that importation will be decided on the end of milling,” noting that the majority of mills will close on May 30.

“For that importation, we feel, based on the trend of the production, it might be lower than our initial projection on December 30, 2022 when the 440,000 [MT] was decided. It was decided in January,” he said.

“If we do the additional imports of 150,000 maximum, it might be less, it should be in the Philippines before the start of the next milling which is maybe around August 30. Since it is refined, maybe we can adjust to sometime in September. It should be here already so it does not affect the local production,” he added.

As to the 440,000 MT allowed to be imported under Sugar Order No. 6, Azcona said that, so far, 238,000 MT have already arrived in the country, of which about 140,000 MT were released to the domestic market.

“The imports that were made were very safe in the volume. We made sure that the volume might be insufficient, but never excessive. Because if we over-import, our farmers will be adversely affected… Better to do it in small tranches, to make sure it won’t be excessive,” he said.—AOL, GMA Integrated News