ON FRIDAY, Aug. 27, PN published an open letter to President Duterte from the Jalasig Sugarcane Planter’s Association, Inc. This letter explained that sugar produced in the Philippines is allocated by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) as either ‘A’ or ‘B’. The ‘A’ sugar is designated for export to the US while ‘B’ is for domestic consumption. The price obtained for ‘A’ sugar is less than the ‘B’ sugar so the sugar planters lost money.
With our burgeoning population, now in excess of 110 million, and our per capita sugar consumption almost certainly not decreasing significantly, we are now in a situation where we can consume, internally, our entire sugar crop. We seem to be more or less in equilibrium so there is no need for sugar exportation.
I believe that exporting sugar to the US is of long-standing and is enshrined in US legislation via the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act. Perhaps the SRA needed to negotiate with the US authorities that we should not persevere with US exports.
In any case, the SRA, last week, announced that the export allocation to the US for the current crop year (1 September 2021 – 31 August 2022) has been terminated.
Under current conditions, this seems to be appropriate. I have noticed, however, that over the years the SRA does not mention sugar imports. For a long time, our domestic sugar was protected by tariffs (around 56 percent a decade ago). Now, I understand, there are no tariffs and hopefully, no consequential smuggling which prejudiced our sugar market in the past.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) predicts a recurrence of the La Niña phenomenon from November. This means above average rainfall which in turn means our sugar production may be somewhat lowered. In fact, the forecast sugar production for the 2021-2022 crop year is 2.1 million metric tonnes (MT).
If possible, it would be a good idea if SRA could monitor the level of sugar imports. This would give clarity as to our sugar consumption and hence help in deciding whether or if to try to resume US exports in coming years.
The present prognosis, however, is that there is no immediate likelihood that sugar exports to the US would be beneficial to the industry./PN
