The heavy rains have failed to dampen hopes of a recovery this year by the sugar industry.
From only 1.63 million metric tons in cropyear 1998-1999, the sugar sector is optimistic that production for the current cropyear (1999-2000) will reach 1.65 to 1.7 million metric tons.
And expectations are high that cropyear 2000-2001 which begins Sept. 1 will be better and may approximate the 1997-1998 production of 1.8 million metric tons.
In a news conference yesterday, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief Nicolas Alonso said that as of April 30, sugar output had reached 1.468 million metric tons, as against only 1.33 million metric tons as of May 2 last year.
"We are confident that we will hit between 1.65 and 1.7 million metric tons this cropyear with several sugar mills still operating," Alonso said.
Among the mills that have already finished milling for the cropyear are Basecom, Batangas Sugar Central, Cagayan in Luzon; New Frontier in Panay; and Biscom, Dacongcogon, First Farmers, La Carlota, and Sunnix in Negros.
Sugar prices have also improved. Raw sugar prices have stabilized at P770 to P780 per 50-kilo bag. "We hope that before the end of this cropyear, prices will still improve to P800 per bag," Alonso said.
The SRA chief also expressed confidence that there will be no need to import sugar this year on top of the 51,000-metric ton minimum access volume (MAV) import commitment of the government under GATT. "There will be no shortage nor extra-expensive sugar this year," he said.
Meanwhile, Alonso noted that it is still too early to tell what the production will be next cropyear although some industry experts forecast that it will around 1.8 million metric tons.
He noted that in the southern part of Negros, the weather has been very cooperative. "This will be good for the new plants. But of course, everything will depend on the weather and the occurrence of typhoons. By next month, we might have a better picture of things ahead," he said.
Meanwhile, the SRA reported that the private sector has already shipped out around 91,000 metric tons of the 142,000 metric ton share of the Philippines under the United States tariff rate sugar export quota system.
The Philippines has a 13.5 percent share of US sugar imports. It is the third largest, next only to the Dominican Republic and Brazil.