Sanson Calls for Unity, Long Term Solutions for Sugar Industry

Sugar Board Member, David Sanson, representing the planters called on sugar farmers, particularly the federations to unite and work for a long term solution that will address production, pricing, marketing, and other challenges facing the sugar industry.

“We are grateful that prices of sugar and molasses have gone up in the past couple of weeks with the northern mills showing significant increases and we hope that the southern mills will soon follow the trend,” Sanson, who represents the planters in the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), said.

Last week’s bidding price has gone up to P2,300-P2,400 per 50Lkg with molasses breaching P9,000 per ton after more than three months of being in the P2,100-P2,200 level.

Much of this can be attributed to the export program approved by the Sugar Board, Sanson said, adding that “this was planned as early as November but some federations and other stakeholders did not agree with the program.” Instead, Sanson said these groups insisted in their own version to have SRA and the DA declare that there will be no importation until December 2026 believing that prices will adjust.

“We have proven that their version was a total failure, thus we decided to move with our own program that they disagreed with and now, farmers are reaping the benefits of better sugar prices and molasses,” he added.

Sanson said that the sugar industry cannot afford a repeat of what has happened in the past three months when prices were not even at break-even point for some farmers, particularly the small ones.

“We cannot, must not, sacrifice our planter-members welfare just because some have their own agenda. We must unite, work on a long term plan to maintain equitable prices, be more open-minded and set aside our differences for the good of the sugar industry,” Sanson said.

Meanwhile, he also called on the various mill districts to work with SRA in addressing the RSSI infestation.

“We have mills that are actively helping in the production of fungicides that have been effective in eradicating the pests and distribute these to their farmers, but we need the support of all mills and even local government units in sugar producing areas,” he said.

Sanson who oversees the research and development arm of SRA said they have the technology and manpower to deploy to mill districts to train their people and farmers. “We also have been distributing fertilizers to several mill districts already and more to come to help mitigate the effects of RSSI,” he added.* (PR)