Sugar import arrivals reach 217,814 metric tons

MANILA, Philippines - The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) reported yesterday that a total of 217,814 metric tons of imported sugar has arrived as of Sept. 8. The stocks are intended to fill the supply gap during the lean months.

The arrival of the imported sugar dovetails with the decision of the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC), chaired by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), to maintain the suggested reference price (SRP) of refined sugar at P52 per kilo. 

The SRA had recommended the upward adjustment of the SRP to P56/kilo following complaints from retailers in public markets and grocery owners that they could no longer sell refined sugar at P52/kilo since the wholesale price has gone up and it is no longer profitable for them to sell sugar at the current SRP level.  

SRA’s recommended SRP was based on the last bid price for sugar in the mill sites and the prevailing wholesale prices for the last three months - June to August.

SRA said the spike in the domestic price of sugar was influenced by higher sugar prices in the global market and also by the lean sugar supply in the domestic market brought about by El Niño which affected the harvests of the past crop year and the delayed milling season in the current crop year. 

SRA, in coordination with the National Food Authority, implemented the importation of sugar using the tax expenditure subsidy of NFA so that sugar will come in at a price lower than the duty-paid importation which will reach as high as P70 per kilo of refined sugar. 

Based on a five-year average, monthly consumption of raw sugar is 162,000 metric tons, while refined sugar is around 87,000 metric tons.