Philippine Sugar Alliance opposed government for Importation

A sugar industry leader yesterday said members of the Philippine Sugar Alliance will oppose the planned government importation of sugar and will sue those responsible for carrying it out.

Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines, said the government does not need to import sugar at this time because the industry is at the peak of the milling season.

“We have sugar flowing out of the bodegas of every mill in the country,” he said.

Trade and Industry Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said government is considering importing sugar with tax subsidy to temper price increases, Sugar Regulatory Administrator Rafael Coscolluela said Friday.

Concern has been raised over rising prices of sugar in the retail market that was at P47 a kilo in Metro Manila and could reach P50.

An initial proposal of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap was to import 50,000 metric tons of sugar but it has been pointed out that it may be a little too much and two shipments of a total of 20,000 metric tons may be more appropriate, Coscolluela said.

But Lamata said the main cause of the high prices of refined sugar in Manila is the on and off operation of the Don Pedro Sugar Mill in Batangas.

Because of its mechanical problems the Don Pedro mill cannot come out with enough refined sugar to be sold in Manila, which it has supplied in the past, he said.

“The solution to that is for the government to send its navy ships to Negros to haul all the refined sugar that are in the bodegas of the mills and ship them to Manila,” he said.

“If the SRA insists on importing, then, what is this? This smells of importation for campaign funds?” Lamata said.

Government importation of sugar goes against the principle of free enterprise, Lamata said.

When prices of sugar had been below production cost government never came out to help the industry, this is a one way street, he said.

“While we are shouldering the burden of the high costs of fuel fertilizer, labor and spare parts, when prices are high they want to intervene and destroy the market but when prices are low they are never around to help the industry survive,” he added.

Lamata said the sugar industry players will file cases against those who will import sugar now.

In answer to Lamata, Coscolluela yesterday said “This is vintage Manolet, shoot first, ask questions later.”

The SRA head said he is not the one pushing for the importation, it is the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture that will use Executive Order 834 as legal basis for the proposed importation.

EO 834 authorizes the National Food Authority, Food Terminal Inc. and the Philippine International Trading Corp. to intervene in the stabilization of the supply of price of basic items.

The EO provides for the tax expenditure subsidy that will enable the government to import sugar without making the consumer pat for the tariff, he said.

The proposed importation of sugar will be discussed at a meeting with the Philippine Sugar Alliance Tuesday where we will bring up the concern of government on the continues rise in prices of sugar and the proposed intervention using a tax expenditure subsidy to stem the rise in prices, he said.

“We will also discuss the requests for the conversion of existing C1 strategic reserve sugar to D or world market sugar for use of food processor exporters,” he said.

The United States is also expected to declare an additional sugar quota of the Philippines of from 60 to 80,000 metric tons, he said. “We will discuss how to meet this at the meeting,” he said.

Also to be tackled at the meeting with the PSA are current sugar withdrawals, and the new crop estimate, Coscolluela added.

Action to be taken by the SRA will also depend on what the President and Cabinet instructs them to do, he also said.

source: visayandailystar