PRICES of sugar in a public market in Davao City had a slight increase for the past month, affecting the income of some of the sellers.
During a price monitoring conducted by SunStar Davao at the Bankerohan Public Market on Thursday, August 11, the prevailing price of brown sugar was recorded to be around P70 per kilogram (kg), while white sugar is at P105/kg.
According to some of the vendors, there was a slight difference in the prices over the past month. For brown sugar, there was a P5 increase, while there was an increase of P15 for white sugar.
All of them cited the oil price hike as a contributing factor to the increase.
Jun Rey, one of the sellers, said that since the prices increased, their sales were highly affected.
"Hinay kaayo ang halin namo diria sukad misaka ang presyo sa lana. Kabalo baya ka nga pag musaka ang presyo sa gasolina, pagan gyud tanan (We noticed lower sales since gas prices went up. As you know, once the price of gas goes up, other things follow)," he said.
Ester, another vendor, also told SunStar Davao that despite the gradual rollback of prices and the lesser restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, they can barely recover from the increase.
"Saka gyud ang tanan, ang capital, unya gamay ang return sa capital. Lisod kaayo ning mahal kaayo ang presyo (Everything hsa gone up, including the capital. But the returns are not that much. It is really difficult when the prices are high)," she said.
Both vendors said there is still ample supply.
Anton Go, one of the marketgoers, said he decided to buy sugar at public markets as prices at shopping malls are slightly costly. But he admitted that the increase in prices has affected his budget, considering that sugar is a basic commodity in their household.
"Siguro lessen na ako pagkonsumo og asukal. Tutal dili man advisable mag-sige og palabi og asukal (I might have to lessen my sugar consumption. Anyway, we know that it is not advisable to consume too much sugar)," he said.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has rejected the proposed importation of 300,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar due to the diminishing supply in the country resulting in the increase of its prices, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said Wednesday, August 10, 2022.
"The President rejected the proposal to import an additional 300,000 MT of sugar. He is the chairman of the Sugar Regulatory Board and denied this in no uncertain terms," Cruz-Angeles said.
In a report from SunStar Philippines, present prevailing price of sugar in the entire country is at P90 per kilo, but some markets are selling it at P120 to P150 per kilo.
Meanwhile, according to the retail prices bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, white sugar is currently at P100/kg, while brown sugar is at P70/kg.
Jun Rey and Ester said they are hoping that the President's action could somewhat help improve and reduce the prices and cost of the available sugar in the market. However, Jun Rey said they are also hoping that fuel costs would further go down so that the prices of sugar would also go down. RGL