SRA declares all sugar as domestic for next crop year

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD CITY – Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona announced that all sugar produced in the coming crop year will be classified as “B” or domestic sugar during the 71st Philsutech Convention at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu on Wednesday.

The declaration means all sugar output will remain in the domestic market, with no allocation for export or reserve classifications. This aims to ensure stable local supply for food manufacturers, beverage companies, and household consumers, but may affect exporters who benefit from overseas quotas such as the U.S. “A” allocation.

The SRA traditionally announces sugar classifications during the administrator’s industry update at the annual convention attended by stakeholders.

Azcona also said the official start of the milling season will be Oct. 1, or the Monday closest to that date, following a three-year transition to move it back to the last quarter of the year.

Since Oct. 1 falls on a Wednesday this year, the opening may be declared on Sept. 29.

As of July 27, raw sugar production reached 2.084 million metric tons from nearly 26 million metric tons of canes milled in a total of 405,000 hectares, of which 392,000 hectares were planted for sugar and 13,000 for bioethanol.

Azcona hailed Mindanao farmers as this year’s heroes of the sugar industry, attributing the biggest production growth to members of the newly formed sugar federation led by its president, former Congressman Manuel Zubiri.

“Mindanao will likely be our last frontier in our road toward sustainability,” Azcona said, encouraging others to welcome the new federation, which joined industry leaders for the first time at the annual convention.

He also reported progress in the sugar industry under the Marcos administration, commending the President’s concern for the sector.

Azcona said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel and the SRA will propose an PHP8 billion budget for soil rejuvenation and small-scale irrigation covering about 160,000 hectares over three years.

He added that the proposal includes PHP1.2 billion for 20,000 hectares dedicated to propagating high-yielding variety plantlets.

“Our productivity in the past three years was largely due to the distribution of high-yielding variety canes, and SRA intends to focus on this along with other scientific approaches to farming that we have learned from our foreign partners toward self-sustainability,” Azcona said.

While optimistic that the industry will continue its growth trend, Azcona urged sugar farmers to remain vigilant against the spread of the Red Stripe Soft Scale Insect infestation, which has affected more than 3,200 hectares in Negros Island and Panay.

“These are validated field inspections, but the figures could be much higher, and the effects on our sugar canes are not yet known,” he said, adding that SRA will soon begin testing the sugar content of recovered canes.

A study in Egypt showed as much as a 50% drop in sugar content from RSSI-infected canes.

Regarding the Sugar Industry Development Act, Azcona said the industry may be granted a PHP1 billion SIDA fund for the coming year.

However, industry stakeholders are seeking to amend the annual allocation from PHP2 billion to PHP5 billion, citing the sugar industry’s substantial contribution to national revenue.

Azcona also presented two international cooperation programs with Japan and Brazil, adding that the SRA is exploring more collaborations with other sugar-producing countries, particularly on sugarcane varietal exchange and propagation.