SRA cuts output estimate for sugar crop-year 2011-2012

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on Tuesday downgraded its sugarcane estimate for crop year 2011-2012 to 2.242 million metric tons (MMT) of raw sugar production from the initial estimate of 2.40 MMT.    Field reports, particularly from the Mill District Development Committees and especially from Negros province, have it that cane tonnage declined by 18 percent to 20 percent, the sugar agency said in a statement.   One of the reasons for the lower output was too much rain, Rosemarie Gumera, SRA policy planning manager told GMA News Online.   What happens, according to her, is that the harvested cane gets too wet with its sugar content diluted.   The estimated production decline is closer to 158,000 MT, said Gumera.   However, this will not affect domestic supply and the 2 MMT yearly demand will be met, she noted.   It will also spare the 138,000 MT shipments for the US quota, she added.   The estimated drop in output will cut against the sugar Philippines usually ships to the world market once the domestic and US requirements have been met, Gumera said.   “SRA observed that the rate of harvesting this crop year (September 2011 to August 2012) is faster compared to the previous crop year (September 2010 to August 2011) and harvesting will end early in the major sugarcane-producing provinces,” the sugar agency said.   “SRA has closely monitored the standing or remaining canes in the field and reports showed that milling will end early, especially in Negros,” it added.   It explained that the figure of cane production used by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics in year 2011 (January to December) is 28.38 MMT while SRA data showed that for the current crop year 2011-2012 (September to December), only 8.02 MMT were milled.    The statistics bureau’s 2011 report, based on a calendar year covers the partial production figures of two succeeding crop years (2010-2011 and 2011-2012), the SRA said.   “Sugar production  is not reckoned on a calendar year basis as this will mislead us in estimating our actual sugar production for the entire cropping cycle of sugarcane,” the SRA said, citing administrator Gina Bautista-Martin said.   The SRA also noted that in the agriculture sector, production and performance reports by the BAS are for national statistics and budgetary purposes.    “I hope that the sugarcane production figures reported by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, which are based on a calendar year, would not be misconstrued to be the same as the SRA report which is based on the cropping cycle of sugarcane,” Martin said. — VS, GMA News