Govt Approves Importation Of 150,000 Metric Tons Of Sugar By September

The government is set to import 150,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar by September to ensure continued supply and avoid a sudden increase in prices while assuring producers that it will not affect domestic production or local prices.

The importation of sugar would be open to all traders, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said in this Philippine News Agency (PNA) report.

Marcos had also given the go-signal to begin the milling season from August to September this year to increase production.

"That's important for the corresponding increase in production by approximately 10 percent," Marcos told the outlet adding that he has ordered the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to expedite block farming initiatives which consolidate small farm lots into at least a 30-hectare-block farm, to increase production.

Currently, there are 21 block farms of at least 40 hectares.

"Consolidation is an important part of agro-industrial production. We're looking at increasing the budget for block farming to accelerate the process of organizing the block farms," the president said.

SRA's forecast inventory says the country will have a negative ending stock of 552,835 MT by the end of the milling season or on August 2023. The deficit represents the need for another 100,000 MT to 150,000 MT of sugar to avoid shortage.

Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said details of the importation will be discussed at the end of the milling this month, the Philippine Star reported. Azcona assured that the upcoming sugar importation will not be marred with any issues unlike the previous imports.

A lawmaker in February alleged that the government may have participated in "government-sponsored smuggling" referring to a shipment of sugar that arrived in the country ahead of the effectivity of Sugar Order Number 6.

Senator Risa Hontiveros suspected there are people who "jumped the gun" in sugar importation.

"What is the earliest date to enter imported sugar in the Philippines? It is March 1, 2023," Hontiveros said in this February CNN report.

"My information, coming from producer organizations and corroborated by independent sources, is that on February 9, a shipment of sugar in 260 20-foot containers arrived in the port of Batangas," she added.

In the same month, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) clarified the issue of the sugar imports.

"In response to the directive of the President, to address inflation and create a buffer stock, and given that sugar is one of the components of most commodities that drive the consistently high inflation rate, I acted with haste and interpreted the memorandum issued by the Office of the Executive Secretary as an approval to proceed with the importation," DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said in this CNN article.