SRA reports drop in sugar retail prices

The Sugar Regulatory Administration said that there was a decrease in the retail prices of sugar in the country.

During a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing on Wednesday, SRA Administrator Pablo Luiz Azgona said there was enough supply of raw sugar and refined sugar.

“Harvest season pa po ngayon. So sa presyohan po, yung presyo sa farmers natin tumaas siya and nasa level siya more or less the same as last year at the same time po,” he said.

(It’s still harvest season. So in terms of prices, the price for farmers has climbed up while it remains more or less the same level as last year.)

However, Azgona stated that retail prices of raw sugar had decreased to P73 per kilogram.

This was an 11% drop from March 2024's P82 retail price, according to SRA's March 22, 2024 price monitoring report.

Meanwhile, Agzona also said that retail prices of washed sugar had dropped 12% to P76 per kilogram while refined sugar retail prices climbed down 1% and is now P86 per kilogram.

In comparison to the March 2024 SRA report, prices had dropped from P82 for washed sugar and P88 from refined sugar.

“Siguro po, since pumasok si Sec. Tiu Laurel po hanggang ngayon, na-maintain na po natin yung presyohan po ng refined sugar. Nasa P85 to P88 po siya. Almost two years na po siya,” Azgona said.

(Possibly from the time Agriculture Sec. Francisco Tiu Laurel has entered office until now, we were able to maintain the price of refined sugar. It was around P85 to P88. It’s been almost two years.)

Meanwhile, Azgona shared illegal sugar imports confiscated within the country were either donated to the Department of Agriculture or sold at auctions conducted by the Bureau of Customs.

He added that it was important to impose a precise tariff classification on sugar to maintain the security and integrity of the domestic sugar market.

“Yung main reason po natin dito is not to regulate the imports but to gather accurate data kung ilan talaga pumapasok. Yung effect po dito sa industry, we noticed a slight drop in demand sa refined sugar sa industry. Bumaba ang demand ng refined sugar natin ng mga almost 4%. However, yung demand for locally produced refined sugar, tumaas ng 22%. Yung demand po natin sa imported bumaba ng 32%,” he shared.

(Our main reason here is not to regulate the imports but to gather accurate data of how much is really imported. On its effect on the industry, we noticed a slight drop in demand on the refined sugar industry. The demand for refined sugar dropped almost 4%. However, the demand for locally produced refined sugar has increased by 22%. Our demand for imports has dropped by 32%.)

“As a whole bumaba ng 4%,” Azgona added.

(As a whole, it dropped by 4%,)

In December 2024, the SRA supported a probe into what was allegedly manipulation of traders in sugar prices.

This was in response to losses experienced by sugar farmers who are being taken advantage of by traders, causing sugar farmgate prices to drop.

“Dito ‘yan sa buyers of the farmer sugar so dito yan sa umpisa ng supply chain. Yung first buyers, paglabas ng mill yun yung problema natin. Yung wholesale and retail constant eh lumalaki lang yung gap from wholesale to farmgate,” Azcona said.

(The problem starts with sugar buyers from the farmers, the start of the supply chain. It becomes a problem when sugar is bought from the mill. The wholesale and retail are constant but there is a wide gap between wholesale and the farmgate.) —RF, GMA Integrated News