5 sugar traders offer to import more than planned

Five companies have offered to bring in as much as 33,400 metric tons of sugar at Tuesday’s auction for 45,000 metric tons, but the government will likely award import rights for only 22,400 metric tons. "Since one of the four lots exceeded their allocation, we will only award the maximum limit per lot," Rosemarie Gumera of the Sugar Regulatory Administration said. She is also a member of the bidding committee. Industrial users have been allotted as much as 10,000 MT; 4,250 MT for food processors, 11,000 MT for institutional users and 19,850 MT for repackers and retailers. Offers from industrial users exceeded their limit by 11,000 MT to 21,000 MT, while food processors bid for 3,400 MT. Institutional users offered to bring in 5,000 MT, while retailers bid for 4,000 MT. The five companies that submitted bids were Asian Industrial, San Fernando Eric Commercial, Go Tian Food Industries, Universal Robina Corp. and Harman Foods Phils., Inc. The government is expected to announce the auction results this week. Imported sugar under the second tranche must be delivered by July 31. Gumera said the government had yet to decide if it would still bid out the unsubscribed portion. But while only five participated in the auction, total bids were higher than in the previous auction, possibly due to speculations that output for this crop year would to be lower than expected, she pointed out. Because of weak demand, the government through private traders awarded import contracts for 16,000 MT of sugar during a bidding last February for some 60,000 MT. Seven companies and trading agencies — Coco-Cola Bottlers Inc, TFN trading Trading, Food Entrepreneurs and Exporters Inc, VAT-Free Sugar Co., Bee Crescent, Emmanuel Commercial and Nismo Trading — won the contract to bring 16,000 MT. The government reiterated that there was no sugar shortage. "What we need to watch out are smugglers who are trying to bring in surplus sugar," Sugar Board director Archimedes Amarra said. — NPA, GMANews.TV