SRA inspects sugar bound for US

Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona personally inspected the loading of raw sugar bound for the United States at the BREDCO port in Bacolod City last Saturday.

As stipulated under Sugar Order 3, the Philippines allowed the export of 25,300 metric tons of raw sugar to fulfill its US sugar quota allocation and the timing, Azcona said will balance out the supply of raw sugar in the country when milling starts this September.

Loading of sugar is being done manually and an estimated 1,500 metric tons is loaded every day. “It will take about 15 days to load the shipment provided we have good weather,” Azcona said, and another 30 days for the cargo to reach US soil.

Azcona also thanked the traders who participated in the program even if they are exporting sugar now at an estimated loss of P900 to P1,200 per bag of sugar.

About 30 sugar traders heeded the call of the administration last year to buy domestic sugar to stabilize farm gate prices that dropped to a low of P2,400 per bag. In exchange, the program allowed these traders the opportunity to import and export when needed.

These traders bought raw sugar then at an average price of P2,700 per bag and sold it at the US export price of P1,800 per bag or a loss of P900 per bag.

Given that these traders will also be given the chance to import refined sugar, the cost of money and other fees they incurred will probably give them just a little profit to recoup their expenses.

Azcona also thanked Bacolod City Mayor Albee Benitez for lifting the truck ban for sugar loaded trucks en route to the port to hasten the loading of US bound sugar.

Bacolod has a standing truck ban in the city proper from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM on weekdays but accommodated SRA’s request to allow uninterrupted loading of sugar within 15 days otherwise the exporters will be charged additional fees for each day of delay, unless disruption of loading is weather-related.*