THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has issued two orders to bolster domestic sugar supply, the agency said in a press statement Monday.
Sugar Order 1-B provides for 100 percent “B” allocation for the remainder of the crop year. Under this order, sugar production starting week-ending May 31, 2015 until the end of the crop year are all classified as “B” or domestic sugar.
Meanwhile, Sugar Order No. 7 reclassifies “D” or World Market sugar to “B” sugar. It provides that current crop year and previous crop year “D” can be converted to “B” sugar subject to certain conditions. The conversion program expects to add a maximum of 75,000 metric tons of “D” sugar to the domestic market.
SRA said it has verified that there is significant volume of “D” sugar this crop year and the immediate preceding crop year that have remained unshipped which could further augment stocks for the domestic market. Hence, SRA came out with a conversion program to reallocate export sugar to the domestic market.
For the current crop year which started September 1, 2014 and ends August 31, 2015, domestic demand is expected to reach 2.25 million metric tons (MMT) while total production has already reached 2,307,876 metric tons as of May 24, 2015, which is still above domestic demand.
By issuing the two orders, SRA said it is making sure that there is enough carry over or buffer supply for the start of the next crop year when sugar production has yet to go full swing.