Roxas Holdings exporting sugar to Korea, Japan

Listed Roxas Holdings Inc., through unit Central Azucarera Don Pedro Inc., will export 28,000 metric tons of raw sugar to South Korea and Japan in the next few weeks.

“The crop year just ended in June and production was much higher than anticipated. We see this as an opportunity to tap other export markets like Japan and Korea,” said Roxas Holdings chairman Pedro Roxas.

Central de Azucarera Don Pedro will send three cargo loads to Japan after recently delivering a shipload to Korea via the Batangas International Port. The next shipment is expected by the end of the month.

Roxas said the export was in response to the order of the Sugar Regulatory Administration to convert domestic sugar (Class B) into world sugar (Class D) to dispose of excess supply from the current crop year.

“The surplus in sugar production came on the heels of the US announcement that it will not purchase more than its annual sugar export quota from the Philippines,” he said.

The Philippines received an allocation of 224,549 metric tons raw value under the US tariff rate quota scheme for crop year 2010-2011.

The sugar industry said the slowdown in demand from some local industrial users who shifted to high fructose corn syrup and premixes for blending in their own products contributed to the oversupply.

“Since we cater primarily to the local industrial market, this will be the first time in five years that we are back into the export market outside the US,” Roxas said.

Sugar production by Central de Azucarera Don Pedro was around 145,000 MT in the current crop year.

The SRA said it would export as much as 200,000 MT of sugar to the world market. It said five countries had expressed interest to buy raw sugar from the Philippines under the world sugar export program. These are Japan, 46,866 MT; Indonesia, 14,522; Korea, 6,040 MT; China, 825 MT and US, 18,427 MT.

source: manilastandardtoday