TWO officials of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) are suspecting that the rising price of retail sugar are results of price manipulation.

SRA Board Members Roland Beltran and Dino Yulo representing the millers and producers, respectively, said wholesalers and retailers are possibly manipulating the price in the market.

This pronouncement was based on the result of their consultation with the stakeholders over the long weekend.

The officials, in a press statement on Sunday, April 21, said constituents have been complaining that the high cost of retail sugar among public markets and supermarkets that reached P60 per kilogram is “artificial.”

“There are sectors profiting largely from this at the expense of the industry,” the statement said.

Yulo said they have not been remiss in reminding the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to do its job and monitor retail prices of sugar.

“At the end of the day, it will be the producers who will be at the receiving end of this problem,” he added.

Beltran, for his part, said mill gate prices of sugar for the past months have been holding steady at P1,450 to P1,500 per 50-kilogram bag.

Beltran said warehouses are filled to the brim with sugar thus, any hike in sugar prices is artificial and being manipulated.

“When retail prices of sugar goes beyond P60 per kilo, that should reflect double the existing mill gate price,” he added.

Yulo also said that they have been directing their eyes on the traders but he thinks that they should now set their eyes on the wholesalers and retailers.

If indeed there is a problem in the supply chain, it is definitely not coming from the producers and the millers, Yulo pointed out.

“This may be another ploy in setting up a scenario to justify liberalization of sugar importation,” he suspected.

Yulo said Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) chairman George Barcelon earlier called for sugar import liberalization despite admitting that importation at this point may flood the market if there is abundant supply of domestic sugar.

For the two SRA officials, this has become a consumer issue and there is obvious profiteering thus, the DTI should take a closer look at the market.

They are having a hard time explaining, particularly to the small farmers who compose over 80 percent of sugar producers, why there is a huge difference between mill gate and retail prices and what is government doing about this.

Yulo said unfortunately, the very agency who is tasked to monitor and ensure that this should not happen is not doing its job.

“At the end of the day, who is being screwed here, the producers and the consumers,” Yulo said, as he expressed hopes that the DTI will not wait for the price to reach P70 per kilogram.