Japan, Indonesia place orders for PHL sugar

Two Asian countries are buying excess sugar production of the Philippines, the Sugar Regulatory Administration said on Monday. According to SRA manager Rosemarie Gumera, Japan already placed an order for 37,000 metric tons (MT), while Indonesia booked 8,500 MT. Gumera said Korea and China were also among the interested countries, "but they have not yet placed their orders." The Philippine government already allotted 100,000 MT of sugar for export to the world market. This is on top of the approved US sugar quota of 213,333 MT under the Tariff Rate Quote (TRQ) scheme for 2011 of which 140,850 MT have already been shipped out and some 52,835 MT are now ready for loading. The shipment is part of the regular US quota of 136,200 MT and the first additional quota of 57,485 MT. Based on the revised sugar order by the SRA, producers and traders have until end-2011 to export excess supply estimated at around 300,000 MT. SRA administrator Ma. Regina Martin earlier said exporting excess sugar is required to keep local sugar prices stable "at levels reasonably profitable to the producers [yet] still fair to consumers." As of June 26, local sugar output was pegged at 2.357 million MT from the initial production forecast of 1.96 million MT. Because of excess harvest, government stopped sugar importation this year. In 2010, it allowed the private sector to import as much as 150,000 MT due to poor production. Local sugar prices remain stable at P58 to P60 per kilo, according to the SRA. —JMT/VS, GMA News