Philippines keeps US sugar quota, gets 2nd highest allocation

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has secured a 145,235 metric ton raw value (MTVR) export quota for raw cane sugar to the United States, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).

In its latest notice, the USTR has granted the Philippines with the second largest allocation for the 2027 fiscal year, to be shipped at lower tariff rates.

The Dominican Republic was given the largest export quota at 189,343 MTVR, while Brazil placed third with a quota of 100,000 MTVR.

This is the fourth straight year the Philippines has received the same quota under Washington’s tariff-rate quota (TRQ) scheme. The raw sugar export quota will run from Oct. 1, 2026 to Sept. 20, 2027.

Under the TRQ system, specific countries are allowed to export specific quantities of products to the US at lower tariff rates, providing wider access to Philippine-produced commodities.

The Department of Agriculture earlier allowed the export of 100,000 metric tons (MT) of locally produced raw sugar to the US, in a move aimed to boost farmgate prices and reduce excess raw sugar supply.

Raw sugar exports to the US in 2025 totaled 66,085 MT, while the country exported 24,179 MT of sugar in 2024.

This comes as the government sought a reallocation from the USTR to ease the Philippines’s sugar stockpile and stabilize local prices.

The Philippines had previously opted out of raw sugar shipments to the US during the 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023 crop years due to insufficient domestic production.

The country’s raw sugar production declined by 11.11 percent during the 2025 to 2026 crop year, with harvest reaching 1.85 million MT as of July 5, according to the Sugar Regulatory Administration.

The SRA has shifted its planting calendar to begin by Oct. 1, 2026 to Sept. 30, 2027 to raise local production without expanding planting areas. This will allow sugarcane to mature and increase its sugar content.