BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Three sugar mills in Negros Occidental will resume operations even before the official milling season starts.
Amid rumors of a possible sugar shortage, Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer urged sugar refineries to restart their operation early.
Victorias Milling Company (VMC), Universal Robina Corp. (URC) La Carlota and the Binalbagan Isabela Sugar Company (BISCOM) will reopen and mill early if raw sugar is available, said David Alba, general manager of the Asociación de Agricultores de La Carlota y Pontevedra (AALCPI).
AALCPI and other industry stakeholders are helping Ferrer to reach out to other mills.
According to Alba, VMC president Minnie Chua gave assurance that “they are willing to refine when they have the raw sugar supply” and will resume operations by August, or a month earlier than the official opening of the milling season, usually in September.
URC La Carlota said they are amenable with Ferrer’s recommendation.
On the other hand, Joe Chan of BISCOM said while they will start milling in September, they will also refine sugar once critical mass is reached.
There have been reports that low sugar stocks are due to hoarding, but Ferrer said this needed to be verified first.
“If indeed true, I will reach out to various refineries in the province if they are willing to open their mills to refine raw sugar to address the perceived shortage in the market,” Ferrer said.
Previously, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said the estimated raw sugar production for crop year 2021-2022 was around 1,982,721.97 metric tons, which was 160,000 metric tons lower than the actual raw sugar production of 2,143,018 metric tons for 2020-2021.
“The carryover domestic raw sugar stock from last crop year is 228,690-metric tons which gives us a total raw sugar supply of 2,211,411 metric tons while (the) projected raw sugar demand is 2,200,379-metric tons,” SRA chief Hermenegildo Serafica said.
With the alert levels from the pandemic now being eased, Serafica warned of limited supply, alongside record-high sugar price hikes.
“As such and coupled with the increase in demand for sugar due to the opening up of the economy, SRA has determined that there won’t be enough local production of sugar to meet our domestic consumption in the coming months, particularly from June to August,” he said.
He then attributed the production decline to the effects of Typhoon Odette and La Niña, saying another lull production period looms./PN
