Philippines gets additional sugar allocation from US tariff rate quota

Washington has given Manila 63,830 metric tons raw value of sugar allocation under the tariff rate quota (TRQ), according to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

In a statement, the United States Trade Representative said it "is reallocating 86,495 metric tons raw value (MTRV) of the original TRQ for raw cane sugar from countries that are unable to fill previously allocated."

The Philippines got 14, 932 MTRV from the latest reallocation.

The US informed Manila of the additional allocation on Thursday, said SRA administrator Anna Rosario Paner. The Philippines can ship out 53,000 metric tons of the commodity,  the SRA official noted.

The US Department of Agriculture also noted an additional in-quota quantity of 244,690 MTRV under the raw cane sugar TRQ for fiscal year 2017.

The Philippines was given 48, 898 MTRV from the additional in-quota quantity.

This means that the additional Philippine quota totaled 63,830 MTRV, Paner said.

Under the US tariff rate quota, the Philippines has a yearly allocation of 136,827 MTRV of sugar at lower tariff rates.

Sugarcane output reached 2.5 million tons as of end-July, up 12.11 percent from 2.3 million tons a year earlier, breaching the 2.25-million ton target for the current crop year, said Paner. — VDS, GMA News