DTI must resolve local sugar price problem – CONFED

By: Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City -The Confederation of Sugar Producers (CONFED) reiterated its position that importation is not the answer to the alleged high cost of domestic sugar.

CONFED spokesperson Raymund Montimola said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) along with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) should resolve the issue of sugar prices as they are mandated without killing the local sugar industry.

This was the group’s reaction to the recent pronouncements of Trade Sec. Ramon Lopez urging the sugar regulatory board to allow food processors that sell to domestic markets to import sugar if “local sugar prices cannot match import prices for the sweetener.”

Lopez also said that “food processors need to be able to purchase domestic refined sugar at P1,900 per bag, instead of the P2,500 or P3,000 they sometimes pay.”

Montinola said they cannot understand why the burden to reduce prices is pressed over the shoulder of the sugar farmer when records show that farm gate prices are only pegged at P30 per kilo for brown sugar or P1,500 per 50-kilo bag.

“Prices should be reduced at the retail market and not against the lowly sugar farmer,” Montinola said, adding that there is no need to import since there has been already an importation of 250,000 metric tons of refined sugar that should have stabilized sugar prices.

“We seek clarification with regards to domestic prices, stock balances and availability of sugar as raw materials for both local manufacturers and food processor exporters so we can have a better picture to address this issue,” Montinola added.

Former SRA Administrator Bernardo Trebol cautioned DTI and SRA in laying the blame on the industry because “local sugar farmers have nothing to do with domestic retail prices.”

“Sugar farmers know only one thing and that is to grow sugarcane. Our industry survived even with the challenges of progressive lands chopped into small parcels of land yet we make a conscious effort to consolidate these farms into one functional farm although this is easier said than done,” Trebol said.

He added that everyone knows sugar farming is a plantation crop that will survive only with economies of scale and “we are lucky to have sustained livelihood for our farmers in general.”

“But further pressure to reduce our farm gate prices might be the last straw that will break the camel’s back,” he said.

CONFED reiterated their recommendation for DTI to utilize their mandate through the Price Act where they can provide price ceiling under Section (3)(d), with reference to all other basic necessities and prime commodities.

Sugar, as a commodity, falls under basic needs and that the DTI together with the SRA under the Department of Agriculture can establish the proper retail price range and provide the buying public together with local food manufacturers affordable sugar prices.

“This avenue can perhaps provide the win-win solution sought after by government,” Montinola said, adding that they have issued then an invitation and are reiterating it once again “for local food manufacturers to buy directly their sugar requirements from sugar districts and associations nearest their supply hubs to avail of the low farm gate prices and avoid middle men to further minimize on cost.”

CONFED Negros and Panay Chairman Nicolas Ledesma Jr. meanwhile said that with regards to food processor exporters, “they are given import permits by SRA for their sugar supply requirements provided that the finished products are solely for export.”

“We hope that DTI will also see our side in this issue and resolve it with lawful tools they have on hand rather than incessantly calling for importation as a quick fix solution,” Ledesma added.