Over-importation blamed for low sugar prices

Sugarcane farmers blame over-importation as the culprit behind the low sugar prices experienced by planters since the start of the current milling season (September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024).

“The traders know what exactly is the right price. But right now we are affected somewhat by a lot of imported refined sugar,” said Atty. Dan Pedrosa, Manager and Corporate Secretary of VIMACA Farmers Association.

“What happened is, this year, there are a lot of imported sugar… so by the start of new milling season this September, the inventory is really high. Right now at the start of milling season, there were about 10 million bags of refined sugar with an additional two million coming in,” said Pedrosa, as quoted last Friday (October 13) in a report by a national media outlet.

“So you can just imagine how it’s going to affect [prices] because there’s an over-importation of refined sugar and it has also affected the cost of the raw [sugar],” the report further quoted Pedrosa.

VIMACA is one of the largest groups of sugarcane farmers in Negros. The association is affiliated with UNIFED, which supported sugar importation last crop year.

In a separate report by another national media entity, sugarcane farmer Jocas Dejida lamented that his meager profit from his harvest of two truckloads of sugarcane is barely enough return for his hardships in planting, cultivating and harvesting sugarcane.

Dejida explained that his expenses for planting and cultivating the canes amounted to P96,480 for the entire crop year, while his harvesting cost was P18,960 (P9,480 per truckload).

He enumerated his planting and cultivating cost as plowing for land preparation, purchase of cane stalks as planting materials, purchase of 14 bags of fertilizer and pesticides, as well as other incidental expenses.

On the other hand, the harvesting cost includes cutting of the canes, hauling the canes from the fields to the trucks, and loading and finally transporting the canes to the mills.
The sugarcane farmer from southern Negros reported a gross income of P101,800 from his crop of two truckloads of sugarcanes weighing 24 tons against his total expenses of P96,460.
Further deducting the one percent (1%) share of his planters association, Dejida’s profit for his crop is only P9,331.60 for the entire year, or only P776 per month.

Dejida is only one of the thousands of sugarcane farmers who cultivate less than three hectares of sugarcane farm. According to the Sugar Regulatory Administration, these marginal farmers, some of whom cultivate one-half of a hectare or even less, account for approximately 85% of sugarcane farmers in the country.

Other sugarcane farmers pointed out that Dejida’s computation of his expenses does not include the cost for additional plowing after land preparation, transport of fertilizers to the farms, rat bait/poison, salaries of workers for planting and fertilizer application, the 13th month pay of workers, and the lease for the land, if a farmer leases the farm.

When these other expenses are included, the sugarcane farmer will most likely end up with losses, according to other farmers.

The drop in sugar prices has also alarmed the Sugar Regulatory Administration. To prop up sugar prices, SRA Administrator Paul Azcona recently ordered a halt to the conversion and release of imported sugar to the domestic market.

Meanwhile, sugarcane farmers are keeping their fingers crossed that sugar prices will improve during this week’s bidding.* (Butch Bacaoco)