President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. has approved the recommendation of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on the additional importation of 150,000 metric tons of sugar or less, in a bid to stabilize the price, Malacañang announced on Monday.
In a press release, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Marcos gave the go signal for Sugar Order No. 6 during a meeting with SRA headed by acting SRA administrator Pablo Luis Azcona and Board Member Ma. Mangwang.
“The exact amount will be determined once we have determined the exact amount of supply, which will come at the end of this month,” the President said as quoted by the PCO.
“The government is opening the importation of sugar to all traders,” he added.
As of May 7, the country has a sufficient supply of raw sugar with a beginning stock of 160,000 MT.
But according to the PCO, the importation is necessary as the SRA has forecasted that there will be a shortage of 552,835 MT of sugar in the country by the end of August.
“Azcona also told the President that with the issuance of SO No. 6, sugar farmers are happy because they are benefiting from the stable farmgate price of raw sugar, which is averaging at PhP62/kg for the current CY. It is higher than the PhP38/kg average farmgate price in CY 2021-2022,” it said.
Meanwhile, the PCO also announced that Marcos authorized the start of the milling season which is slated for August to September this year.
In addition, the President also ordered the SRA to expedite block farming to increase production.
“Block farming is a system by which small farm lots are consolidated into at least a 30-hectare-block farm. There are currently 21 block farms in the country averaging at least 40 hectares each,” PCO explained.
Written by Stephanie Anne Santos, DZRH News Online Intern
