Sugar orders readied

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The acting Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Board is now crafting two key Sugar Orders (SO) to address the current supply issue of the commodity.

In a statement, acting SRA Administrator David Alba said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. directed the agency to “immediately come up with SO No. 1 regarding sugar allocation” for the current crop year.

“The Sugar Board recommended that all sugar for this crop year will be classified as B sugar or domestic sugar. There will be no allocation for the US quota. This will of course be subjected to thorough consultation with all industry stakeholders,” Alba said.

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He added the SRA Board is also preparing SO No. 2 which recommends the importation of 150,000 metric tons of refined sugar.

“While in principle this has been approved, we still need to draw up the mechanics covering this order after consultations as well,” Alba added.

He said the SRA acknowledges the shortage of refined sugar used by the beverage industry, but that the government is consolidating data before recommending any action to the president.

Alba also said while Coca Cola is “in a critical place in their sugar needs,” Pepsi and RC Cola still have available sugar supply as per SRA records.

“The Sugar Board just took office and we ask our industry partners to indulge us with some time so we can address this issue based on established facts,” he said.

Domingo Panganiban, Department of Agriculture (DA) senior undersecretary, earlier said retail price of refined sugar may drop to as low as P60 per kilogram (kg) this week after select supermarkets capped their prices at P70 per kg and with the release in the market of thousands of sacks of sugar seized from raided warehouses last week.

Panganiban said additional supply will come in as more warehouse raids will be conducted in Visayas and Mindanao. Supermarket chains Robinsons, SM, Puregold and S&R Membership Shopping agreed to sell sugar at P70 per kg in Metro Manila starting this week.The DA expects the cap to be in place until December.

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