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[av_heading heading=’How to deal with sugar substitute importation?’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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Tuesday, January 17, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Sugar industry stakeholders will meet today to discuss plans to prevent what they claimed to be an expanding use of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), particularly among beverage companies.
Some P10.5 billion in local sugar production was lost as importation of the HFCS, which is used as substitute to locally produced sugar, more than tripled in the past year, according to industry leaders.
Representatives from the labor group National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines – Trade Union of Congress of the Philippines are joining the meeting at Mimi’s Café.
Import and substitution by big beverage companies affect small farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries and industry workers, the group said.
Former councilor Archie Baribar will represent the Kilusang Pagbabago Negros.
Also attending are Sugar Alliance Confederation of Sugar Producers national president Francis de la Rama and Negros-Panay chapter president Gerardo Locsin, National Federation of Sugar Planters president Enrique Rojas, and United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines president Manuel Lamata III.
Big beverage producers used to account for 60 to 70 percent of local sugar sales. A major company, which used to buy 8 million bags of locally produced sugar, bought only 1.8 million bags last year, de la Rama said.
HFCS use has also depressed prices; while prices dropped to P1,500 from last year’s peak of P1,800, sugar stocks were not moving, he added.
The result of the meeting will be presented to Atty. Ana Paner, administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration, in a meeting in Manila on Wednesday.
Labor groups already warned of protest actions should the industry’s problem remain unresolved.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan and some lawmakers have issued a call for an inquiry into the matter, with many saying that the unregulated entry of the HFCS will lead to a crisis in the sugar industry./PN
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