Sugar shortage looms

MANILA, Philippines - There might be fewer sugar products on store shelves in the coming days as supermarkets plan to pull them out due to rising prices, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said yesterday.

Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said supermarkets are complaining that they have been selling sugar at a loss at P52 per kilo or less.

She explained that supermarkets now carry sugar not to earn profits but to continue attracting consumers.

Traditionally, sugar is cheaper in supermarkets than in wet markets.

Maglaya said that no profiteering case has been lodged against any trader who sells sugar for as much as P60 per kilo because the commodity’s suggested retail price (SRP) keeps on changing.

The Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) has set the latest SRP at P54.

But Maglaya said the DTI is keeping the P52 SRP until it gets a formal advisory from the SRA on the new SRP.

It’s the Department of Agriculture’s task to pounce on erring retailers while the DTI hears cases filed. As of now, DTI said that DA hasn’t caught anyone selling sugar above the SRP of P52 per kilo.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said that 150,000 metric tons of imported sugar will arrive between May and August.

Yap said sugar importers would be exempted from paying the 40 percent tariff but the importation would be subject to value added tax.

Despite the sugar importation, Yap stressed there would be no drastic price reduction to ensure protection for the local industry.

Yap said that they have yet to determine how much sugar will cost once the imports come in.

Meanwhile, the National Food Authority (NFA) is selling refined sugar at P48 per kg to some market-based outlets such as the Bigasan sa Palengke being operated by NFA accredited rice retailers in Metro Manila.

To speed up distribution, NFA administrator Jessup Navarro said they are repacking sugar in one-kilo bags.

The SRA has released 800 bags of 50-kilo sugar to the NFA.

Navarro said the sale of low-priced sugar will be limited to only one kilo per consumer.

Bread prices stable

Meanwhile, Maglaya said bread prices should not go up by more than P1 with sugar prices at P52 per kilo.

“There is no reason to increase that much,” Magalaya said in reply to a memo from bakers stating that the price of a 600 gram loaf bread will go up by P2 while that of a 10-piece pack of pandesal will go up by P1.

She said that based on DTI’s computation, the price of loaf bread should only go up by P1 while that of a 10-piece pandesal pack should only go up by P0.50.

But Philippine Baking Industry Group (Philbaking) president Walter Co insists his group’s computation is correct. “The increase we advised is already very conservative. Maybe we (DTI and Philbaking) have different methods of computing.”

Maglaya said that they are working with the SRA on getting a discounted price for bakers. Currently, Philbaking said they are getting their sugar at P52 per kilo. Maglaya said they are working to reduce the price to P48 per kilo for bakers.

Maglaya said sugar content in a loaf of bread is negligible. For instance, sugar in a 20-gram pandesal represents only P.04 to P0.05 of the total cost.

Maglaya challenged the bakers to give the government a breakdown of their expenses in order to justify any increase beyond P1 for loaf bread and P0.50 for pandesal.

“They wrote us about the increase but they didn’t tell us how they arrived at the price. They should show us their numbers.” With Marianne Go