RP secures bigger sugar quota allocation to US

The Philippines has secured a bigger sugar quota allocation to the US this year, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).

On its website, the USTR announced on May 5 that the Philippines may ship an additional 24,571 metric tons raw value of sugar within this fiscal year, which ends on September 30.

The Department of Trade and Industry earlier said the Philippines could export to the US an additional 11,706 metric tons (MT) of the commodity.

The USTR announcement covers the country-specific allocations of additional in-quota quantities of the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for imported raw cane sugar.

The TRQ allows countries to export specified quantities of a product to the US at a relatively low tariff but it also subjects all imports above a pre-determined threshold to a higher tariff.

According to the USTR, the US Secretary of Agriculture last month announced an additional in-quota quantity for the TRQ raw cane sugar that could be imported for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The USTR said this quantity is in addition to the minimum amount that the US has committed under the World Trade Organization’s Uruguay Round Agreements.

Upon consultations with quota-holding countries, the USTR has reallocated a total of 181,437 MT of the original TRQ for raw cane sugar from countries that had said they would be unable to supply their commitments. –BEN ARNOLD O. DE VERA Reporter, Manila Times