DA approves SRA plan for sugar export to US

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Monday that it approved the Sugar Regulatory Administration’s (SRA) plan to export 100,000 metric tons of raw sugar to the United States to protect the income of local raw sugar producers. 

The DA said the move was a bid to cut the domestic raw sugar supply after an increase of 130,000 tons in local farmer production. Allocating part of the harvest under the US tariff-rate quota is expected to help lift the farmgate prices. 

"We will export raw sugar under the US quota system as soon as possible to provide the industry immediate relief," DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement. 

The DA and SRA earlier extended the ban on sugar importation until December 2026 to extend protection for local producers even after the crop year ends in September

However, the DA said that local sugar prices remained weak despite the extended import freeze. 

"The US import quota was originally set at around 143,000 metric tons, but this season’s available allocation was gradually reduced by the US refiners to 100,000 tons due to delays in the country's decision to participate,” the agriculture department said. 

The SRA said that the export plan would help balance supply and demand. 

“Since the new administration entered, our raw sugar production has been increasing, and we have activated the US exports. It will be the third year now, and the volume exported is growing as well, from 33,000 tons to 66,000, and now 100,000 tons,” SRA administrator Pablo Azcona said.

"The last two years' exports of raw sugar have helped increase our farmers' prices, and this year, this is a much-needed step that our farmers need. We cannot take the suggestion of just sitting and doing nothing. Our farmers are the backbone of this industry; they need our intervention,” he added. 

The DA will closely monitor the importation of artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes. This was after the SRA also noted that the importation of such doubled to volumes equivalent to over 500,000 metric tons of raw sugar. 

“He [Tiu Laurel] also plans to ask the Department of Health to review potential public health implications of widespread use of intense sweetening agents, which are often hundreds of times sweeter than sugar," the DA statement said.

"Recent guidance from the World Health Organization suggests non-sugar sweeteners may not offer clear long-term benefits for weight control and could carry health risks,” it added. —Vince Angelo Ferreras/NB, GMA Integrated News