An influential business organization has thrown its support for the government proposal opening the sugar industry to greater foreign competition. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Business organization Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) on Friday expressed their support of the government’s move to deregulate restrictions on sugar importation to make the industry more globally competitive.

This is after Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said they are eyeing sugar as the next agricultural product to deregulate after rice, as the higher prices of sugar in the Philippines compared to those of global prices is seen by the government as detrimental to the industry’s growth.

In a statement, PCCI president Ma. Alegria Limjoco said that removing restrictions on sugar imports is “a welcome development especially for businesses that are in the food processing and manufacturing sector where sugar is an important ingredient.”

“Our domestic food processors, which are mostly small and medium enterprises (SME) are taking the brunt of the high cost of domestic sugar, which actually makes them uncompetitive. [That’s why] we laud the government for taking this initiative to liberalize sugar imports,” said Limjoco.

PCCI was one of the groups who last year jointly requested the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Regulatory Administration to allow local food processors and manufacturers to import an additional 100,000 metric tons of sugar, owing to the restrictive prices in the local market.

The other groups were Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization (Philfoodex) and the Philippine Exporters Confederation (Philexport).

“We have not really been competitive against our neighbors in ASEAN (region). Our prices of refined sugar is at P60-P65/kilo compared to P28 to P30/kilo in ASEAN,” Roberto C. Amores, chairman of PCCI and Agriculture Committee and president of Philfoodex said.

“We are glad that our government is listening to our concerns because this has become a burden on our part. We absolutely cannot compete with similar products from ASEAN due to the prohibitive prices of our sugar,” he added, saying that the move would benefit all stakeholders from the processors, to the farmers and consumers.

Moreover, the chamber is also in support of the enactment of the Rice Tarrification Bill passed by the Congress earlier on, the precedent which triggered Diokno to relay plans to deregulate restrictions on sugar next.

“PCCI supports the enactment of the bill which will ‘help to stabilize and lower the prices of rice in the domestic market and ensure its sufficient stock,’” the chamber said.