THE top official of the United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) has lauded the Sugar Board for hearing the group's call for a 100-percent "B" sugar allocation for this crop year or purely for the domestic market.

Unifed President Manuel Lamata said they are thankful that the Board is prioritizing the local market considering that there is also a drop in the projected sugar output for this milling season.

On Tuesday, August 31, the Board issued Sugar Order (SO) No. 1, outlining the production allocation policy for the current crop year, which will be all "B" or domestic sugar.

This, after the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) announced the reemergence of the La Niña phenomenon in the country.

La Niña will coincide with the harvest and peak milling season of sugarcanes in key production areas, the state weather bureau said.

Unifed was the first group to call for the scrapping of "A" sugar with Lamata saying that "there is no point to allocate A sugar when we will also import the differential to satisfy the local needs."

It urged Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to scrap the "A" sugar, or the US sugar quota, in the coming crop year if the supply is just enough for the country's consumption.

The federation agreed to a seven percent allocation of "A" sugar last year.

Lamata, however, said the farmers were short-changed because the differential given was only P100 instead of the expected P400.

"In other words, somebody made money, but it was not the farmers," he added.

Scrapping the "A" sugar has been done in the past when the country's sugar production did not meet local demands.

"It has been done, and we are asking the SRA to do it again and prioritize the local market," the Unifed official earlier said.