Sugar sector urges tight watch on smuggling

MANILA, Philippines – Local sugar planters and producers are urging the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to keep a tight watch on the entry of smuggled sugar or sugar importations outside of those allowed by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

They said that sugar smuggling is back again as a result of the drop in the prices of sugar in the world market.

Importations from Thailand and Australia should be investigated because they are not authorized, the group said.

The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters Inc. (NFSPI) last month had already written Trade and Industry Secretary Jesli A. Lapus, asking the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to investigate the possible presence of smuggled sugar in Cebu.

NFSPI president Enrique D. Rojas had complained to Lapus that based on the SRA’s monitoring of sugar prices for the first week of March, the average price of refined sugar in Negros Occidental was P52.38 per kilo, while in Negros Oriental the average price was P52.88/k.

In Panay, the monitored average price of refined sugar was lower at P52/k, but in Cebu, the monitored average price of refined sugar was significantly lower at P45.23/k.

Rojas pointed out to Lapus that “Cebu does not have a sugar refinery. It is a net domestic importer of refined sugar. How come the average retail price of refined sugar in Cebu is cheaper by more than P7 per kilo compared to prices in Negros which has several sugar refineries? Where does Cebu get its cheaper refined sugar, if not from illegitimate, smuggled sources?”

The entry of smuggled sugar, Rojas pointed out, depressed domestic sugar prices and does “tremendous damage to local sugar producers.”