Sugar importation opposed

BACOLOD CITY — Sugar industry leaders oppose the government’s plan to import sugar to curb prices, saying the country will be at the losing end of the deal.

Luis Tongoy, president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers (Confed) Negros-Panay chapter, said that with domestic sugar prices already stabilized "there is no need for President Arroyo to import sugar."

He said there is enough sugar supply to meet domestic needs and to import at the peak milling season will have a long term detrimental effect on five million people working for the sugar industry."

Latest production figures from the Sugar Regulatory Administration showed that the raw sugar balance as of Jan. 22 is 501.479 metric tons while refined sugar is at 103.773 metric tons.

The national government earlier announced the possibility of importing 50,000 metric tons of sugar in retaliation to the alleged sugar hoarding and spiraling sugar prices that reached a retail price of P40 per kilo for refined sugar.

However, a research conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last week in Metro Manila showed that there is no sugar hoarding.

Such move, however, led to a drop in sugar prices at P1,150 per Lkg. or 50-kilo bag in Thursday’s trading, or down by P250 from the bidding price of P1,400 per bag two week’s ago.

Sugar producers are still hoping that prices will remain at P1,200 per bag, which they say is still "affordable to consumers and profitable to producers."

Last week, industrial users are urging the government to allow them to import sugar on their own to cover requirements and ease manufacturing cost.

However, Tongoy said that importing sugar now will be much more expensive. Instead, industrial users can buy directly from the producers.