THE Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has reduced the allocated quantity of raw cane sugar from the Philippines that is eligible to enter the United States at a lower duty rate under the World Trade Organization tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for fiscal year 2025.
The Philippines was given an allocation of 145,235 metric tons (MT) for the period, which is the third biggest following Dominican Republic’s 189,343 MT and Brazil’s 155,993 MT.
USTR’s fiscal year 2025 is Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025.
For fiscal year 2024, the USTR originally allocated a total of 145,235 MT of sugar from the Philippines under TRQ. However, last March, the agency gave the Philippines an additional 25,300 MT on top of the earlier allocation of 145,235 MT for a total of 170,535 MT.
Historically, the country maintains its shipments of sugar to the US as the latter provides TRQ.
The scheme allows countries to export specified quantities of a product at a relatively low tariff. Imports above a pre-determined threshold are slapped a higher tariff.
The Philippines is one of a few select countries given an annual allocation of sugar export to the US market at a premium.
Meanwhile, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has issued Sugar Order No. 3 series of 2023-2024 dated July 19 detailing the government’s plan to fulfill the sugar TRQ for fiscal year 2024.
The order said the country intends to fulfill the 25,300 MT of locally produced raw sugar for shipment to the US, after failing to comply with the TRQ for more than three years.
Earlier this month, SRA administrator Pablo Azcona said at least 20 exporters signified interest to fill the volume to be shipped to the US.
The Philippines last shipped raw sugar to the US market during crop year 2020-2021 for 112,008 MT of commercial weight.
