P-Noy asked to intervene to prevent looming sugar crisis

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Maranon Jr. has called on President Aquino to intervene to prevent a looming crisis in the sugar industry.

The governor said sugar trading in Negros Occidental has stopped because of overproduction, and the sugar planters and producers, especially the small ones, will greatly suffer very soon.

“We are calling on the President to help the sugar industry. The problem is very alarming. It needs political will,” Maranon said.

Maranon said there are no buyers of sugar even if it has plummeted to P1,250 per bag from P1,800 per bag or higher.

If this problem continues, the sugar industry stands to lose billions of pesos, he added. Maranon said sugar stocks are being kept in the warehouses of sugar centrals because no one buys them.

“The problem is oversupply due to smuggling, and overproduction. Production has increased by more than 20 percent compared to last cropping,” he said.

Provincial legal officer Jose Ma. Valencia, in a separate interview, said sugar centrals in Negros Occidental do not want to sell their sugar at a lower price than their acquisition cost of P1,800.

If they sell at the current buying price, they will lose millions of pesos, he said.

Valencia said the overproduction was caused by the so-called “bumper crop” wherein sugar planters produced more sugar because they plan to export it to countries that had been in need of more sugar.

He said for the past several years, countries like New Zealand, Thailand and Korea had lacked sugar, but the problem now is that these countries have recovered faster from their sugar needs.

Businessman Eduardo Cojuangco also reportedly converted at least 1,000 hectares of his hacienda in Negros Occidental to sugar plantation, Valencia said, thus adding to the oversupply of sugar from this province.

Another problem is that the small sugar planters are losing their farmers and workers to bigger sugar producers because of higher wages, Valencia added.

Soon there will be a shortage of workers for small sugar planters because they will be hired by bigger sugar producers, he said.

Maranon said the solutions to these problems are to stop smuggling, and stop importation of pre-mixed sugar. –Danny B. Dangcalan (The Philippine Star)