Local Sugar Industry Urges Government For Support Instead Of Sugar Imports

Agricultural workers refused the government’s proposal to import another 450,000 metric tons of sugar this year, calling it a “callous and ineffective” move to avoid another surge of price hikes.

Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) said the proposal to bring in competition through imports would only harm the local sugar industry, especially for workers affected by the closure of a leading Batangas-based sugar mill.

The group said the local sugar industry needs “state support” through fuel and fertilizer subsidies, not “state-sponsored competition brought about by wanton importation.”

According to the Sugar Regulatory Administration, the sugar mill Central Azucarera Don Pedro ceased operations during the mid-milling season due to “operational and financial” challenges halting the production of 12,000 metric tons of sugar per day and the captured 68% of the market in Batangas.

“Its closure was as much a blow to the livelihoods of its workers as it was to those of small planters whose produce could no longer be accommodated by the smaller mill,” the group said.

The group added the closure would affect the “country’s ongoing decline in its sugar production, caused mainly by the rising costs of fuel and fertilizer which government continued to refuse (to subsidize).”

UMA also said having the government take over the mill “will not only save livelihoods; it would also improve sugar production and add to the country’s dwindling supply.”

Currently, sugar is priced at around ₱87 to ₱110 based on the Department of Agriculture’s latest price monitoring report. The possibility of sugar price hikes prompted President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to order a two-month buffer stock.

In December 2022, sugar prices increased by 38.8% due to weather disturbances in the past months that resulted in lower production from farmers.

Source: Philstar