Sugar groups urge gov’t buying, aid as prices plummet

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD CITY — The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) and the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (PANAYFED) have called for urgent government intervention to curb the sharp and sustained decline in sugar and molasses prices, warning of looming economic distress and potential social unrest in sugar-producing regions.

In a joint statement on Sunday, NFSP president Enrique D. Rojas and PANAYFED president Danilo A. Abelita appealed for direct government procurement of surplus sugar stocks to decongest the market, and for easily accessible quedan financing through government financial institutions to help farmers survive the slump.

“The present sad plight of the sugar industry was caused by a confluence of events, most notably erroneous importation policies and worsened by natural calamities,” Rojas and Abelita said.

“All industry stakeholders should come together and cohesively petition the government to immediately allocate resources for direct sugar buying and quedan financing,” they added.

The two federations cited bidding results from last week showing sugar prices plunging to as low as PHP 2,103 per 50-kilo bag in some mills in Negros Oriental and Panay. The highest bid reached only PHP 2,322.22 per bag at the Hawaiian-Philippine Company.

By comparison, the start of the current crop year saw prices ranging from PHP 2,250 to PHP 2,350 per bag — already significantly lower than the PHP 2,800 per bag observed during the early weeks of Crop Year 2024–2025.

Based on records from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), the average sugar price in October stood at PHP 2,350.20 per bag, increasing slightly to PHP 2,396.04 in November.

However, prices plummeted in the first two weeks of December, with some sugar mills even declaring a failure of bidding due to either the absence of buyers or bids too low to be accepted by producers.

Rojas and Abelita warned that current price levels are now below production costs for most sugar farmers, especially agrarian reform beneficiaries cultivating less than two hectares.

“Sugar proceeds are their only source of income. The prevailing low price is literally slowly killing them by depriving them of income,” they said.

They added that some marginal farmers are now seriously considering abandoning sugar farming altogether, as continued losses render the activity unsustainable.

While crop diversification is often raised as an alternative, the federations noted that most smallholders lack the technical training, financial capital, and infrastructure access to shift to new livelihoods effectively.

Without urgent government support or safety nets, they warned, entire farming communities in Negros and Panay could sink deeper into poverty — a situation they described as a “fertile breeding ground for social unrest.”

“As an industry, we need to get our acts together to get out of this hole we are in,” Rojas and Abelita said.

“We should petition government for immediate action to avert an impending economic catastrophe and social unrest in the sugar farms if this uncontrollable decline in sugar and molasses prices continues.”