Sugar supply problem to hound incoming Aquino administration

The incoming administration of President-elect Benigno Aquino III will have to deal with higher sugar prices, because this year's harvest would be delayed by up to two months, a trade official said Monday. The problem of supply could happen in October. "So, if we are looking at a supply situation wherein there is no cause for alarm, then prices shouldn't go up and should remain at P52 per kilo," Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya told reporters. "What we have to guard against are the speculators, those who would like to hoard sugar because they would like to have higher prices later, which we do not want to happen," Maglaya said. Because of the El Niño phenomenon that induced drought in sugar plantations, the early harvest and milling season that were supposed to happen next October would be delayed to next November or even December, Maglaya said. The Sugar Regulatory Authority has requested for additional authority to import 150,000 metric tons of sugar to ensure stable supplies and prices when the supply situation hits later in the year, she said. Aquino would have the final say on the additional import volume, Maglaya said. The Trade Department is closely watching sugar prices after having assured consumers that there is no reason for prices to go up, with the suggested retail price per kilo of refined sugar still at P52. “We had a problem last year when sugar went up to P60 per kilo. We don't want that to happen again. We don't want refined sugar to disappear, as there was a time when only brown sugar and washed sugar were visible in the market," Maglaya said. —VS, GMANews.TV