'No reason to hike sugar prices'

MANILA, Philippines - Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) head Bernardo Trebol has assured the public that the country has sufficient sugar stocks with the expected arrival this month and in July of the 150,000 metric tons imported under the National Food Authority’s Tax Expenditure Subsidy, plus the importation of an additional volume of 100,000 metric tons.

As such, Trebol stressed that “there is no justifiable reason for the increase in the prices of sugar.”

“Clearly, there is no reason why prices should go up, and the SRA will not hesitate to go after those who manipulate prices at the expense of the consuming public,” he said.

He reiterated that prices of refined sugar should still be within or up to P 52/kilo at the retail level.

He said the SRA will strictly monitor the prices of sugar both in supermarkets and wet markets and will recommend the prosecution of those outlets that are selling sugar grossly beyond the suggested price.

Trebol said the total importation of 150,000 MT of sugar ensures that the country has more than enough sugar to supply the domestic market until the start of milling in November this year.

He explained that although production for this crop year is only 1.97 million metric tons, down about six percent from the previous crop year’s production of 2.1 million metric tons, sugar consumption or withdrawals, on the other hand, increased 23 percent for this crop year.

As of this month, Trebol said there are still about 600,000 metric tons or about 12 million 50-kilogram bags of sugar available for consumption in the market.

Per SRA estimates, this volume is more than enough to cover the country’s domestic sugar requirements for three to four months.

Trebol said the main bulk of the 150,000 metric tons of sugar imported under NFA TES – of about 120,000 metric tons – is arriving in June and July.

The guidelines for the importation of an additional 100,000 MT of sugar will be released by the SRA sometime this week.