Negros lawmaker presses SRA on low sugar prices

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD CITY — Negros Occidental 5th District Rep. Dino Yulo is asking the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), the government agency that regulates sugar supply and pricing, to explain the low price of sugar at the start of this month’s milling season.

Yulo, a sugar planter himself, hinted that he is planning to bring the issue to Congress.

He emphasized that the sugar industry remains vital not only to the 5th District, where most communities depend on sugarcane farming, but also to the entire province, one of the major producers of sugar in the country.

A small sugar planter who asked that her identity be withheld said the price of sugar is very low at over PHP 2,000 per bag.

She lamented it is a double whammy for her as the price of rice is also very low despite the moratorium on rice importation.

She added that the price of sugar is hardly break-even, especially for her, who has only 5 hectares for sugar production.

For his part, Isabela Vice Mayor JR Malabor, whose family is also in sugar, posted that the farm-gate price of sugar currently ranges from PHP 2,251 to PHP 2,270 per 50-kilogram bag in La Carlota and SONEDCO.

SRA records show that as of May 4, 2025 (still in crop year 2024–2025), the millgate price was PHP 2,671.92 per 50-kg bag.

In April 2025, the average millsite price was PHP 2,626.54 per 50-kg bag, down from about PHP 2,760.37 the previous month.