US raises PHL sugar quota anew by over 19,000 MT this time

The United States has given Filipino sugar producers 19,648 metric tons (MT) more of quota to fill, bringing to 213,333 MT the total volume of sugar they can ship off to American consumers this year, the Sugar Regulatory Administration said Tuesday. SRA officials said the local sugar industry can meet the higher demand. Some 140,850 MT of sugar have been exported to the US this year and 52,835 MT are about to be shipped out. The country also has 25,000 MT of export quality “D" sugar ready for export. December 2011 is the new deadline for shipping sugar to the world market after the SRA extended it by three months. With the SRA decision also allowing producers of domestic “B" sugar to export some of their output, local prices of sugar have been stable at the P58 to P60 range. Domestic supply is sufficient according to the latest sugar inventory figures. Sugar plantations and processors produced 2.36 million tons of sugar while “withdrawals" from the stocks reached only 1.46 million metric tons as of last June 26. — ELR/VS, GMA News