Government seeks to deregulate sugar imports

MANILA, Philippines — The government is seeking to liberalize the importation of sugar to push down the price of the commodity and improve the competitiveness of the country’s food export industry, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said yesterday.

In his weekly press briefing, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the government wants to deregulate the importation of sugar, following the Congressional approval of the proposed Rice Tariffication Bill.

Diokno said this move would help cut the cost of the commodity, which would then benefit the exports sector. “Next is sugar. You know why? Because it’s one of the inputs to our potential exports,” he said.

“Sugar in the Philippines is very expensive compared to the global rate, so we plan to deregulate or relax,” he said.

Diokno said the government is targeting to have this new policy implemented within the year.

According to the budget chief, the liberalization of agricultural imports is one of the policy reforms being pursued by the Duterte administration.

“That’s the policy now of the government, deregulation. Like freer importation of all the food products,” he said.

He said this policy direction has been in place since last year, when the government eased administrative restrictions on the importation of agricultural products to temper down inflation.

Diokno, however, admitted that such policy could hurt local farmers.

“Greatest food for the greatest number. This will really hit farmers that are not competitive, but it would be good for the consumers. For example, as a result of tariffication, price or rice will go down by at most P7 per kilo. Wouldn’t that make consumers happy?” he said.

To compensate for this, Diokno said domestic producers would have to become more competitive, while the government should provide them with new skills and farming methods.