SRA hikes allocation for domestic market

MANILA, Philippines - The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has raised the allocation of the domestic market in the sugar production for crop year 2013-2014 to protect the domestic supply as lower production is expected this year.

In an order, the SRA reallocated the percentage distribution of sugar produced for the current crop year to protect the domestic buffer stock and prevent prices from shooting up amid increasing demand.

The new allocation is 92 percent for the domestic market instead of 86 percent and six percent for the world market instead of 12 percent. The allocation for the US export quota was retained at two percent.

The SRA said that after the periodic assessment on production expectations, it was determined that due to the series of weather disturbances that visited the country last year, domestic sugar production is expected to fall to 2.356 metric tons (MT).

“While our current crop year’s production is on the downtrend on the one hand, the record showed that our local demand or consumption for sugar is increasing, thus it is projected that our domestic sugar buffer stock at the end of the crop year will be at critical level if and when the sugar production percentage allocation will not be adjusted,” the SRA said.

The new allocation takes effect immediately to cover sugar produced during the week ending Feb. 16 and subsequent week ending in the current crop year.

In August last year, the SRA estimated sugar production for the current crop year to reach 2.45 MT.

Final sugar production for crop year 2012-2013 reached 2.457 MT, up by 9.5 percent from the previous crop year.

The SRA is mandated to maintain a balance in sugar production and market conditions to ensure the stability of prices in a way that it remain profitable to producers and fair to consumers.