Sugar prices rising; controls ruled out

Retail prices of sugar are on the upswing but authorities will not impose controls just yet, according to the Sugar Regulatory Administration.

“Since we’re at the peak of milling, we expect prices to go down to P63 per kilo. It will take at least three weeks for prices to drop to that level,” said Administrator Regina Martin.

There are proposals to impose a ceiling by way of a suggested retail price but this should only be invoked during emergency situations, Martin said.

Sugar is being sold for as much as P68 per kilo in some supermarkets and for as low as P65 is retail stores.

Weeks prior to Christmas, sugar was sold at P2,600 per 50-kilogram bag (lkg). Now it is down to P2,200/lkg since the milling season is at its peak.

Martin said the agency will not be bringing in imported sugar at this point “when we have lots of sugar since farmers are still milling.”

Sugar output was forecasted to reach 1.96 million metric ton and the government would have to import raw sugar if production fell short.

The agency will come up with a more solid number by end-February, Martin said. Until then, the agency cannot determine the volume of sugar it hs to import.

Last year the national government allowed to import 100,000 MT sugar out of the 150,000 MT requested by the sugar sector, to fill in the production shortfall.

The country produced as much as 1.97 million MT sugar during crop year 2009-2010. The annual consumption averaged 2.2 million metric tons.

As of January 9, 2011, total raw sugar supply reached 831,459 MT while withdrawals from warehouses totaled 374,176 MT.

On the other hand, refined sugar stock for week ending January 9, 2011 was 333,362 MT while withdrawals reached 203,173 MT, which meant that supply was much higher than consumption.

The sugar agency noted that the slowing down of sugar withdrawals, both raw and refined can be attributed to the importation of 100,000 MT sugar that augmented supply last year as well as the entry of sugar premixes and corn syrup. –Othel V. Campos, Manila Standard Today