Sugar planters start selling directly to consumers

MANILA, Philippines — Amid the continued high prices of commodities, sugar planters have started to directly sell sugar to consumers at lower prices than those sold in retail markets.

Member-planters of the Confederation of Sugar Producers (CONFED) in Negros, the country’s major sugar producer, initiated the direct-selling where premium raw sugar is being sold at P45 per kilogram compared to the current P48 to P56 per kilo.

CONFED Negros president Nicolas Ledesma said the organization plans to do it in other sugar districts nationwide to contribute in government’s efforts to bring down prices of commodities.

“This is part of our share in helping the government that has also helped us in the past two years when the sugar industry was beset with problems, particularly on the entry of high fructose corn syrup,” he added.

CONFED is the biggest group of sugar producers, accounting for the membership of over 65 percent of sugar farmers in the Philippines.

Ledesma, however, stressed that their sugar produce would only be retailed to local consumers who will “buy directly from our associations and cooperatives and on a per kilo basis,“ to avoid abuse by other retailers who may capitalize on lower sugar prices they will be selling.

“This will solely be under the Department of Agriculture’s Malasakit Program and will only be for a minimum volume which will be repacked directly by member associations on a per kilo basis,” he said.

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has been monitoring sugar prices and has started writing to retailers to revert to prevailing prices within five days if their prices have been found to be exorbitant.

Amid the planned sugar importation, SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica said the importation of 150,000 metric tons of sugar would solely be made available to industrial users and direct end users.

He added that those who want to sign up for the importation program would be allowed to import a minimum of 2,500 MT to a maximum of 15,000 MT on a first come, first served basis.

Meanwhile, sugar leaders sought the help of the SRA to facilitate with various agencies and financial institutions for soft loans and mechanization, acknowledging that the industry’s survival will be dependent on their competitiveness against other sugar producing countries.