Industry stakeholders on Monday expressed support for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s plan to maintain a two-month buffer stock of sugar.
Danilo Fausto, Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc. president, said the government should have implemented strategic buffer stocking for basic commodities, including sugar, “a long time ago.”
Fausto stressed such move will ensure the stability of commodity prices and that having a two-month sugar buffer stock is “a good start.”
The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) quickly expressed support for the proposal.
“The buffer stock is ideal for any commodity, including sugar. In the sugar industry, we always target a production that will leave us with a buffer stock of at least two months at the end of milling season at the end of August,” said Enrique Rojas, NFSP president, in a statement.
Rojas emphasized most sugar mills stop operations around June or July when they run out of canes to mill and that when the new crop year starts the following September, sugar mills do not simultaneously start operations as they only do so when assured of sufficient cane supply.
“Most Negros mills usually resume operations around the last week of August or in September, while other mills resume operations in October, November or even as late as December. It takes about two or three months from September for all mills to simultaneously operate and produce sufficient sugar for domestic consumption,” Rojas added.
The NFSP further said buffer stocking is needed to supply the domestic market while sugar mills have not yet achieved peak production as the lack of it “is precisely what caused domestic sugar prices to increase to unprecedented levels last July 2022 up to now.”
“We support the call of Pres. Marcos to secure a two-month buffer stock of sugar at the end of the milling season. SRA should provide safeguards to ensure that the volume and arrival of the buffer stock will be calibrated, so that their arrival will not depress domestic mill gate prices,” Rojas further said.
Based on the Department of Agriculture’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, prevailing retail price as of January 13 averages P90 to P110 per kilogram for refined sugar, P83 to P95 per kilogram for washed and P80 to P97 per kilogram for brown sugar.
Sugar Regulatory Administration mill site monitoring showed composite price of raw sugar as of January 1, 2023 stood at P3,217.94 per 50-kilogram bag.
