THE SUGAR crisis appears far from over. In fact, it is only getting worse.
From plunging millgate prices to an imported sugar glut, the industry is now witnessing a classy, bratty, and sugary feud.
From the outset, it was almost amusing to see and hear how fragmented the sugar industry stakeholders had become amid the mess.
The sharp drop in millgate prices of locally produced sugar — now ranging from P2,000 to P2,200 per 50-kilo bag — has rattled sugar planters.
Then, all of a sudden, came the glut of imported sugar that entered the country in mid-September last year, leaving locally produced sugar suffering from prices far below the standard production cost of P2,500 per bag.
Tagged as the main culprit behind the mess was Sugar Order No. 8 (SO8) of 2025.
SO8 allowed 424,000 metric tons (MT) of imported refined sugar to enter the local market.
Several planters’ associations, comprising the Sugar Council, said they had recommended importing only 150,000 MT — not 424,000 MT.
Thus, the excess 274,000 MT remains a problem until now.
As a stopgap measure — and perhaps to appease the “crying planters” — the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) declared that there would be no sugar importation until December this year.
CONTROVERSIAL SO8
But the controversy now centers on SO8 itself.
Members of the Sugar Council, particularly the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations, Inc. (CONFED), the National Federation of Sugar Producers, Inc. (NFSP), and the Panay Federation of Sugar Farmers, Inc. (PanayFed), have long been demanding that a copy of SO8 be made public.
They want to know what exactly is in the Order that justified importing far more sugar than what had been recommended.
Joining the call for transparency regarding SO8 was the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines–Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (NACUSIP-TUCP).
For everyone’s information, the Roland de la Cruz-led NACUSIP-TUCP is the largest aggregation of labor unions and Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) associations in the Philippine sugar industry.
And because of the SRA’s failure — until now — to produce a copy of SO8, NACUSIP-TUCP has demanded the replacement of all officials occupying seats on the Sugar Board.
That is another mess altogether.
NACUSIP-TUCP’s urgent call for the replacement of Sugar Board members was later joined by 93 sugar industry leaders nationwide through a signed manifesto published on May 5.
“The Sugar Board’s failure to manage sugar supply and demand, particularly due to its import replenishment program without proper consultation with stakeholders as required by law, directly caused the decline in millgate sugar prices,” read part of the Sugar Council statement.
Who composes the controversial Sugar Board?
They are:
• Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., chairperson
• SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona, vice-chairperson
• Mitzi Mangwag, board member representing the millers
• Dave Andrew Sanson, board member representing the planters
PLANTERS VS PLANTERS
Now, the Sugar Board has found allies against the Sugar Council.
These allies are the United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) and the Luzon Federation of Sugarcane Growers Association (LuzonFed).
In a statement, UNIFED chairman Manuel Lamata said:
“We condemn in the strongest terms the call of the Sugar Council and their allies to replace the Sugar Board and place the blame on the Board for the drop in sugar prices, when this is the same Sugar Board that gave them very good prices in the past two years.”
See?
The feud has now become a battle of planters versus fellow planters.
So, two basic questions arise:
Who will win?
And who will lose?
‘UNSEEN HANDS’
From an assessment standpoint, the core of the problem is not really SO8 or even the Sugar Board itself.
It is the “unseen hands” that allegedly caused the sugar glut and later profited immensely from importation.
Who are these “unseen hands”?
Sugar industry players likely know the answer better than ordinary observers or journalists.
Controversies over questionable sugar importation are nothing new.
SO8 is hardly a breakthrough.
Remember the controversial SO3 for Crop Year 2021-2022?
That Order also focused on the importation of 200,000 MT of sugar and faced temporary suspensions and legal challenges.
Lawmakers — both in the House of Representatives and the Senate — have repeatedly raised the same question:
Who is really behind sugar importation under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.?
That same question has resurfaced amid the controversy surrounding SO8.
For Frank Carbon of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), the answer lies in the country’s volatile import policy.
What does Carbon mean by a volatile import policy?
It refers to a trading environment where government regulations, tariffs, restrictions, and customs procedures concerning imported goods change frequently, unpredictably, and sometimes abruptly.
That definition may sound broad. But such a policy environment can easily be manipulated.
NOTHING!
So, where is this new classy, bratty, sugary feud leading?
The answer: nowhere.
Everything now resembles a classic drama in the sugar industry — one worthy of the title “Clash of the Titans.”
This happened yesterday.
It is happening today.
And, for sure, it will happen again tomorrow.
Yes, the public may enjoy reading news about the ongoing collision among planters’ groups.
It is almost as if they are boxers inside a ring, while ARBs-turned-small planters and hacienda workers sit as spectators eagerly waiting to see who gets knocked out.
But the truth is, all of them are losers.
Because the real winners are the “unseen hands” and their cohort of planter-traders.
MATHEMATICS OF SUGAR
Take note of this hard fact:
The latest ASEAN sugar import price before entering the Philippine market is reportedly only around P35 per kilo.
Yet in local markets today, sugar sells for P81.96 to P85 per kilo.
Just imagine the “in-between” figures.
That is the so-called mathematics of sugar nowadays.
If you were a sugar trader, you would probably prefer importation over buying locally produced sugar, right?
There is simply more money in it.
Pitiful are the planters — especially the ARBs who comprise about 80 percent of sugar producers in Negros — whose sugar, produced through blood and sweat, is no longer sweet.
Yes, reality bites.
Sugar importation is a lucrative business: fewer inputs, bigger gains.
So, ’ti diin ka pa?/PN
