The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) conducted a benchmarking analysis in Thailand and see which of the latter’s processes can be adopted in the local sugar industry.
The SRA was represented by its administrator Hermenegildo Serafica and Philippine Sugar Millers Association executive director Jesus Barrera. They met with officials of Thailand Sugar Millers Corp. and the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board apart from Thai sugarcane growers association.
As an offshoot to the benchmarking trip, SRA will form an industry committee to estimate the annual production of sugarcane and analyze the market allocation of local sugar production and other industry concerns, to push the competitiveness and advancement of the local sugarcane industry.
SRA said Thailand mandates its growers to receive 70 percent of the total revenue from the sugarcane, less costs and taxes, and the remaining 30 percent for mills. In the Philippines, however, the sharing can range from 60 to 70 percent for growers and 30 to 40 percent for mills depending on the mill.
The agency also said what is being shared in the Philippines is only the sugar and molasses produced from the sugarcane and not the cane itself.
SRA noted other policies it observed in Thailand worthy of emulation, such as the practice of registering all sugarcane growers to the mill where they will deliver their produce and the commitment of a certain volume of cane to be milled as growers receive an 80 percent initial payment of the share expected at the end of the season.
Other sugar farming best practices noted by the SRA are the programming of sugarcane deliveries to improve efficiency and recovery of sugar, a zoning scheme to avoid supply competition and lower hauling cost, the creation of a sugar fund to provide loans for growers at 2 percent interest rate, and the allocation of $2 billion annual funding for research.
Last year, local sugar industry stakeholders urged SRA to have a better monitoring system and accountability in releasing production estimates, citing the agency’s historical inaccuracies that affect policies.
They said among the negative effects of SRA’s inaccurate production estimation is that it becomes a justification for releasing Sugar Orders that allow the import of sugar which is being lobbied by the private sector.
Tatak Kalamay, a multi-sectoral group composed of producers, small farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries and mill and farm workers in the sugar industry, had said in the past four crop years, except for one, SRA’s sugar production estimates have been way off the mark.
For crop year 2018-2019, SRA initially projected production at 2.225 million metric tons (MT), 152,000 MT higher than the actual production of 2.073 million MT.
For crop year 2017-2018, production was projected at 2.38 million MT while actual production was only 2.083 million MT, a difference of 297,000 MT. In crop year 2015-2016, SRA estimated production at 2.27 million MT against actual production of only 2.238 million MT, or 32,000 MT less.
The group said the only exception was crop year 2016-2017 when production reached 2.5 million MT, higher than SRA’s estimate of 2.250 million MT, a time when the issue of high fructose corn syrup affected the industry due to low sugar prices.
