Sugar stakeholders back suspension of US exports

MANILA, Philippines — Sugar stakeholders are welcoming the suspension of the allocation for sugar exports to the US, saying that the domestic market should be prioritized.

“As much as I treasure the market and friendship to the US, I am inclined to support the suspension of the export of our raw sugar to the US in lieu of the rising domestic prices which our consumers industrial and local are already complaining for the high domestic prices brought about by too much rain. Thereby, we are producing less sugar,” United Sugar Producers’ Federation of the Philippines Inc. president Manuel Lamata told The STAR in a text message.

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has issued Sugar Order 1-A or the Amended sugar policy for the crop year 2020-2021, which now allocates 100 percent of the country’s sugar output for the current crop year to the domestic market.

This amends the previous sugar order at the beginning of the crop year in September, which allocates 93 percent of the country’s sugar output to the domestic sugar market and seven percent to the US market.

The SRA issued the order due to the more severe than initially expected impact of the La Nina, which brought heavy rains in all sugar producing regions even flooding several sugar cane fields in Negros Occidental particularly in Silay, EB Magalona, Victorias, Manapla and Cadiz.