Imported sugar to stabilize prices arrives this week

Some 150,000 metric tons (MT) of imported sugar arrived in the country this week as a measure the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) put in place to keep prices from spiking. According to SRA, the retail price of raw sugar in Metro Manila as of June 7 was P43 per kilo and refined sugar, P52. The imported commodity would help cap the price of raw sugar at P44 and that of refined sugar at P52, SRA Administrator Bernard Trebol said. The country has enough sugar supply in warehouses, a fact that should dispel fears of higher prices, Trebol said. Despite the influx of imported sugar, farm gate prices will stay, Trebol said. "We will not allow unscrupulous businessmen to create a situation where they will project a picture of shortage in the supply to their own advantage. We will work with other government agencies and run after the retailers who are unnecessarily increasing the prices of their sugar," Trebol said earlier. The country’s sugar mills still have more than 600,000 metric tons of sugar in warehouses, excluding the inventory of traders and wholesalers, according to SRA. Jesus Barrera, legal officer of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association, said that [apart from the 150,000 MT] about 25,000 MT of imported sugar arrived in the country as of May 28. “While it is true that the milling season has ended, we still have enough supply of sugar for our requirement up to the next milling season," Trebol said. The mills, however, would start grinding late next October because standing crops had been affected by the El Niño dry spell, Trebol said. —VS, GMANews.TV