Gov’t eyes non-tariff fee for sugar imports

MANILA, Philippines — The government is studying the possibility of imposing a non-tariff fee for sugar imports in line with liberalizing the sugar industry, the chief of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

In an interview, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said one of the possible solutions to liberalize the sugar industry is to impose a non-tariff fee for sugar imports.

“So you can probably put a minimum fee for all importers for them to be allowed to import. That fee can serve as some kind of protection for the industry players,” Lopez said.

This will be on top the five percent tariff on raw and refined sugar imports from ASEAN member countries.

Lopez said the fee could be a type of “floor price.” The collected fees will be used to help sugarcane farmers improve their productivity.

“The idea is to always to have free competition as an industry model,” he said.

The trade secretary emphasized the proposed fee is still being discussed and further study still needs to be done.

The study on the possible fee for sugar imports is targeted to be done by the second quarter of this year, according to Lopez.

Stakeholders from the local sugar industry earlier slammed the government’s economic team for pushing for the liberalization of sugar imports.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the economic team has made a “collegial stand” to allow the liberalization of sugar imports amid high prices of the commodity.

“It is alarming to note that this decision to liberalize sugar importation stemmed from a collegial body which means all economic planners are into this,” said Emilio Yulo, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) board member for the planters’ side.

Sugar producers have long been urging the country’s economic team to monitor the price of retail sugar and find out the cause of the high prices.

Stakeholders earlier said the planned liberalization of the industry would not benefit the local consumers as the prices of end-products of processors would not exactly be lowered and would only be advantageous to industrial users.

The sugar industry contributes an estimated P96 billion to the national economy from the sale of raw sugar, refined, molasses, and ethanol and P5 billion in value-added tax payments on refined sugar.

It employs 720,000 workers in 20 sugar-producing provinces, where 82,000 farmers, mostly agrarian reform beneficiaries and small farmers, depend on it for livelihood.