Sugar producers to sell 250,000 tons to meet global market demand

THE Philippines expects shipments of some 250,000 tons of sugar to the world market by end of this year driven by strong demand from Asian countries and the United States, the Sugar Regulatory Administration said on Monday.

In an interview, Rosemarie Gumera, SRA manager for policy and planning, said they expect to beef up shipments of sugar to the world market in the last quarter of 2011, noting the high demand for the sweetener in China, Indonesia, Korea and Japan.

As of September 18, the country has exported some 172,508 metric tons of sugar to the world market.

Gumera also noted that the entry of the United States, which has started buying sugar from Philippines through the world market, could potentially drive demand for locally produced sugar.

“The US is now buying sugar in the world market, outside of its regular tariff rate quota for crop year 2011-2012,” Gumera said.

Archimedes Amarra, executive director of Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA), expressed confidence that local sugar millers can meet the sugar export requirement, noting that they have at least 358,000 MT of sugar stocks.

“There is more than enough stock to meet the world market sugar requirement,” Amarra said.

Meanwhile, Gumera said that they are just waiting for the guidelines to be issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue on exportation of refined sugar to world and US markets.

“Refined sugar exports should be tax-free, and we are still waiting a ruling from BIR for this,” Gumera said.

The SRA official said the country has more than 216,000 MT of refined sugar stocks, and can export at least 100,000 MT to the world market.

“We are also eyeing the US market for possible export of refined sugar. If they are willing to accept the kind of refined sugar we have, then we are willing to sell our excess stocks to them,” she said.

Earlier, SRA administrator Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin said they are now studying the possibility of exporting refined sugar to the United States to ease the build-up in the country’s sugar stocks amid expectations of lower demand for the sweetener.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) earlier announced that it will increase the in-quota quantity of the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for imported refined sugar this fiscal year 2011.

The TRQ on refined sugar allows countries to export specified quantities of a product to the US at a relatively low tariff, but subject all imports of the product above a pre-determined threshold to a higher tariff.

Martin said they will discuss with sugar producers the possibility of exporting refined sugar to the US market.

“We have not exported refined sugar. Our refined [sugar] is purchased by industrial users. But we are studying this market, too,” Martin said, noting that the export of refined sugar will be on top of the existing US sugar quota for this coming crop year.

The USTR is allocating a total of 136,078 metric tons raw value (MTRV) of refined sugar—of which, 25,000 MTRV will go to Canada and 111,078 MTRV to be administered on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Philippines earlier said it expects to export more than 28 percent, or 670,000 MT of its total sugar production as production surplus of the sweetener is expected to extend this coming 2011-2012 crop year.

The country’s sugar production reached 2.399 million MT, or 21.73 percent higher than the 1.970 million MT in the previous year. It is also higher than the previous forecast of 1.96 million MT for the crop year ending August 2011

The SRA also forecasted production to reach 2.4 million MT for the 2011-2012 crop year. –James Konstantin Galvez, Manila Times