Sugar group opposes molasses importation

MANILA, Philippines — The United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) said there is no need to push for the importation of molasses as the local industry has enough stock for ethanol producers.

In a statement yesterday, UNIFED president Manuel Lamata expressed the group’s strong opposition to the Ethanol Producers Association of the Philippines’ (EPAP) request to import molasses after the latter wrote a letter to House Committee on Energy chair Juan Miguel Arroyo to lobby its position.

In their letter to Arroyo, EPAP asked  the  National Biofuel Board to allow the importation of molasses equivalent to the deficit in the supply volume of locally produced molasses required for the utilization of the full bioethanol production capacity of the industry.

Lamata said the proposal to import molasses was earlier disapproved by the Bioethanol Consultative Board  in a recent meeting.

Bioethanol is produced using molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining process.

UNIFED VP and chief of operations Nicolas Kramer, who represented Lamata at the consultative meeting said “practically everyone opposed the importation idea because we have more than 270,000 metric tons (MT) of molasses on stock which can be procured by ethanol producers”.

Based on data from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) as of Aug. 1, molasses production stood at 1.37 million MT, 12.46 percent higher than the 976,347 MT produced in the same period last year.

In contrast, demand reached 1.098 million MT, higher than the 246,350 MT demand in the same period a year ago.

“We are already reeling from the effects of COVID-19 and we need to embrace the thrust of the national government to buy local as our way to help boost the economy, and here is EPAP pushing for importation again,” Lamata said.

“They (EPAP) should support the local industry. If storage is their problem, EPAP should invest in building large storage tanks where they can keep their local molasses during milling season,” Lamata said.

Lamata also called on the rest of the BCB and the SRA to remain vigilant against further lobbying for the importation of molasses.