THE Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations, Inc. (CONFED), National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), and Panay Federation of Sugarcane Planters (PANAYFED) urged the government to engage in earnest dialogue with the industry to resolve the issues in the sugar industry.
In a position paper, the sugarcane producers’ federations, which represented 50 percent of the domestic sugar production, said they share the government’s concern over the current inflation rate hounding the Philippine economy.
This inflation has hurt not only consumers but also Filipino farmers who are reeling from escalating costs of production. We thus support any reasonable measure/s to curb inflation.
“We are therefore concerned that the reportedly ‘very high inflation rate of sugar, confectioneries and desserts’ is seen as a major contributor to inflation and that measures must be taken to stabilize not only supply but prices of sugar in the domestic market. This seems to be the rationale for the urgent MAV (Minimum Access Volume) importation plan for 64,050 metric tons,” the groups said.
In a position paper, the groups said the current refined sugar inventory, based on Sugar Regulatory Administration data, is higher by 56.66 percent compared to the same period, from September 1 to December 11 last year, due to higher refinery output and previous import balances, meaning there is adequate supply at this time to meet current needs.
There is no urgent need for importation, especially during peak milling season, they stressed.
“Even as we urge the government to engage in earnest dialogue with the industry to resolve this and other vital issues, we would like to reiterate at this time our call for the Department of Agriculture, SRA, and Department of Trade and Industry to guard against excessive retail prices that are not in sync with prevailing millgate prices. Producers sadly get the blame but do not benefit from excessive retail prices, while consumers and end-users suffer when retail prices are unreasonably high,” the position paper said. (PR)