SRA backs probe into alleged sugar prices manipulation

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said it supports the move to investigate the alleged manipulation of traders in sugar prices.

In Bernadette Reyes’ Tuesday report on 24 Oras, the SRA said the country has enough sugar supply this Christmas season so its prices should be retained.

The per kilo prices of brown sugar range from P65 to P85 while white sugar costs up to P90 per kilo.

However, the SRA said sugar farmers end up with a loss as sugar farmgate prices drop because traders allegedly take advantage of them.

According to SRA, the farmgate price of sugar is P2,400 per sack, which is a loss in profit or just enough for sugarcane farmers to recover their investment.

“Dito ‘yan sa buyers of the farmer sugar so dito yan sa umpisa ng supply chain. Yung first buyers, paglabas ng mill yun yung problema natin. Yung wholesale and retail constant eh lumalaki lang yung gap from wholesale to farmgate,” SRA administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said.

(The problem starts with sugar buyers from the farmers, the start of the supply chain. It becomes a problem when sugar is bought from the mill. The wholesale and retail are constant but there is a wide gap between the wholesale and the farmgate.)

The United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines (UNIFED) claimed that traders are manipulating sugar prices by keeping the supply they bought for a low price to increase its cost.

“The sugar mills, they have huge bodegas. They can keep the sugars and starve the market artificially para pag-akyat, come January, February, aakyat yung presyo kasi wala ng, supposed to be wala ng asukal sa market. That is when they will unload the cheap sugar that they bought from us and make money,” said Manuel Lamata, UNIFED president.

(The sugar mills have huge warehouses. They can keep the sugar and starve the market artificially so come January, February, the prices increase since, supposedly, there is no sugar supply in the market. That is when they will unload the cheap sugar that they bought from us and make money.)

During his privileged speech, Negros Occidental Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo said the alleged manipulation of sugar prices should be investigated.

“We welcome any form of help, be it an investigation, in the effort of giving our farmers a better price, giving our farmers a better chance because if not, these farmers will shift to other crops so mas magiging malaki problema natin (that will be a bigger problem),” Azcona said. —Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated News