Food exporters ask GMA to help them gain access to cheap sugar

The Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization (Philfoodex) appealed yesterday to President Arroyo to allow its members to buy sugar at lower price to keep their operation afloat, in the light of increasing competition in the foreign market and the liberalization of food imports into the country.

"The price of sugar in the local market is killing us. We are losing the battle right in our own country. Buying sugar here at an exorbitant price is the major factor that heavily burdens the food processing industry," said Jesus T. Tanchanco Sr., Philfoodex president.

He said most Philfoodex members are in the confectionary and juice business where sugar is a major raw material.

"We have made several appeals to the Department of Agriculture, to the Sugar Regulatory Administration and to Trade Secretary Mar Roxas II – to give us a part of the minimum access volume (MAV) for sugar importation – but sad to say, all our appeals have fallen on deaf ears," he said.

Tanchanco said "unless President Arroyo comes to our rescue, our country’s food processors and exporters’ competitiveness in the world market would be affected, thus preventing us from expanding."

It is not fair for the government to give the importation of sugar solely to sugar producers, he said. The government should help the sugar industry but not at the expense of thousands of food manufacturers, processors and food exporters, he said, adding the importation of the commodity should also be given to producers and processors of sugar-containing products.

John Kaw, a director of Philfoodex and executive director of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCI), said the high cost of local sugar has been hurting the food processing and export industry as it tries to survive the tough competition in the international market.

Even the local retail outlets, he said, are filled with imported processed foods which are coming in at very low tariffs, "so much so that many of the country’s food processors, particularly those in the confectionary and juice sectors, are being edged out of the market by cheap imports.

Kaw said thousands of the country’s food manufacturers and exporters of sugar-containing products like candies, juices, food preserves, dried fruits, confectionaries and biscuits, are depending on the supply of low-cost sugar to sustain their operations.

He said processed food sector is one of the country’s top dollar earners comprising the largest of the manufacturing establishments with over 40,000 of them small-and —medium-scale food manufacturers.

"President Arroyo’s thrust to create one million jobs can be achieved by boosting the country’s food processing and export industry.’ Kaw said, adding "it will also boost the export food industry’s contribution of foreign currency to the national coffers.