The Philippine sugarcane & milling industry (Conclusion)

According to the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis, Inc. (IDEA) latest Industry Trends, a regular publication produced by IDEA, only a few places in Mindanao are suitable for growing sugarcane due to the islands’ rugged and mountainous topography. Of these areas, Bukidnon produced the most sugarcane, with its sugarcane production share to that of the island averaging 72 percent annually since 1990.

Bukidnon’s almost-ideal climate (it is very far away from the country’s annual typhoon belt), coupled with hectares of flat-lying lands with abundant irrigation, makes it an excellent place to grow, harvest, mill and refine sugarcanes. In fact, uninterrupted growing seasons contributed much to Bukidnon’s rise as a local sugarcane power, as opposed to the environmental vagaries to which Negros, Batangas, and Tarlac, for example, have been exposed to year-round.

Furthermore, it was reported that the province is host to the Bukidnon Sugar Milling Co., Inc. (BUSCO), Mindanao’s largest sugar integrated miller and refiner and is referred to as the biggest local sugar producer “in the making”. During the 2008-2009 milling season, it milled 2.16 million MT of sugarcane, equivalent to almost 65 percent of Luzon’s entire production. Other notable areas in Mindanao that grow sugar-cane are North Cotabato, Davao del Sur and Sarangani.

Also, according to the same published report, last November, the Supreme Court of the Philippines has ordered the distribution of the 6,000 hectares of the sugar plantation of the Hacienda Luisita to 6,200 farmers-beneficiaries. After the long resistance of The Cojuanco-led Central Azucarera de Tarlac—the biggest sugar plantations in Luzon—to prevent the inclusion of some of its sugar farmlands to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), the government can now forcibly take these farmlands and break them into smaller parcels. Implementation of the CARP, however, may have a direct impact to the total output of Tarlac since sugarcane production is most efficient in a large-scale production.

Finally, agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said that 2011 was a sweet year for the sugarcane industry. According to data from the Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA), the country has exported at least 300,000 metric tons of raw and refined sugar—the biggest export volume since the 1990s. In the last few years, export volumes only ranged between 100,000 and 200,000 MT. Alcala also revealed that the Department of Agriculture (DA) was eyeing to export sugar to neighboring Asian countries. Recently, Indonesia, China, South Korea and Japan expressed their interest to export sugar from the Philippines. The DA also plans to invest on better infrastructure for sugarcane planters and millers. This would mean building bigger and automated loading ports, more farm-to-mill roads and better irrigation facilities, according to IDEA.

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