Negros Occidental sugar planters lament ‘over importation’

VICTORIAS CITY, Negros Occidental —Farmers in Negros Occidental, the country’s top sugar-producing province, are lamenting the flooding of imported sugar into the country.

Interviewed by reporters here, VIMACA Farmers Association corporate secretary John Pedrosa said the oversupply forced them to award their sugar produce at a lower price.

“What happened is, this year, there are a lot of imported sugar… so by the start of new milling season this September, the inventory is really high. Right now at the start of milling season, there were about 10 million bags of refined sugar with an additional two million coming in,” Pedrosa said.

“So you can just imagine how it's going to affect [prices] because there’s an over-importation of refined sugar and it has also affected the cost of the raw [sugar],” the VIMACA official said.

The declining farmgate prices of local raw sugar compelled the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to intervene.

The SRA decided to hold the release of 150,000 metric tons (MT) of imported refined sugar under Sugar Order No. 7, series of 2022-2023.

This, as the average price of raw sugar fell between P2,500 and P2,750 per bag during the first two weeks of crop year 2023-2024 and “continues to go down, to the detriment of the sugar farmers, allegedly by reason of oversupply.”

For his part, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said that although farmgate prices are dropping, retail prices are maintained.

“For me, that is alarming because we are hurting the farmers and the consumers,” Azcona said.

“The significant drop in farmgate prices was triggered by the speculation that reserved sugars will be released,” the SRA chief said, adding that the latest SRA directive was meant to “regulate supply and keep it as buffer as initially planned.”

Under SO 7, the planned importation was to “ensure sufficient supply” and keep “at least a two-month buffer stock.”

“If prices will continue to go down, we are very sure that our planters will start losing because the cost of producing sugar now is higher than last year,“ Pedrosa said.

Pedrosa added that the government has to recalibrate its importation strategy to avoid an oversupply of sugar.

SRA Board Member-Planters Representative David Sanson said importation should be done at the end of milling season to determine if there is a gap between demand and local production.

“So let’s say we produce 1.8 million metric tons, the consumption is 2.2 million… after that you’ll know how much volume should be imported,” Sanson said.

To help ease farmers’ financial burden and increase their yield, Azcona said the SRA provides assistance such as extending fertilizer and equipment. —VAL, GMA Integrated News