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BY RANIE AZUE
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BACOLOD City – With minimal subsidy received from the government, there is no other way for the sugar industry to go but down, according to Butch Lozande, secretary-general of the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers.
Lozande said the subsidy is not enough to support local sugar production.
It’s too little compared to those in Thailand and Brazil, the world’s 1st and 2nd sugar producer, said Lozande.
“We cannot compete with these countries in terms of pricing,” he added.
Lozande claimed that “it’s just a matter of time” that the P1,300 per Lkg starting price of sugar will slide down to P900 per Lkg, even during the peak harvests between November and January.
The budget allocated for the sugar industry under the Sugar Industry Development Act – which was supposed to be P2 billion – was reduced to almost 50 percent, Lozande said.
He attributed this to the Sugar Regulatory Administration’s under spending.
“With the General Agreements on Tariff and Trade in full swing, our sugar industry as well as other agricultural products will be buried six feet under the ground,” Lozande lamented.
After assessing the proposals made by the sugar industry stakeholders composed of traders, millers and plantation owners, Lozande stressed that import restriction must be intensified.
He said this practice was observed by the United States when its local agricultural products were threatened by imports./PN
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