The Sugar Regulatory Administration or SRA is withholding the release of 150,000 metric tons or MT of imported sugar, a move that the agency sees as a mechanism to stop middlemen and traders from unreasonably profiteering at the expense of the consumers.

An SRA Resolution No. 2023-159 dated 26 September 2023, but released only on Thursday, ruled that all imported sugar under the Sugar Order or SO No. 7 series of 2022-2023 should be allocated for buffer stock.

"Our thrust is to expand local supply. We have to ensure local supply and we have seen in the past seven months that farmgate prices are going down and retail prices are maintained so someone is profiteering somewhere," SRA administrator Paul Azcona told reporters.

"The traders enjoy a stable profit and they would want to maintain that margin and we are worried because the margin is getting wide," he added.

Classified as reserve
As per SO 07, the 150,000 MT of imported refined sugar that arrived last 15 September are all classified as reserve.

Importers were supposed to have until 15 October to allocate their stocks but the new SRA Resolution lifted such deadline "until further notice."

Azcona reiterated that the indefinite halting of reclassification will "protect the interests of the farmers and millers, and sustain a reasonable farmgate price of sugar at about P3,000 bag."

SRA price monitoring showed that the average retail price of sugar remains the same, while the average price of raw sugar has significantly fallen between P2,500 and P2,750 per bag during the first two weeks of the crop year 2023-2024.

However, Azcona lamented that importers and traders maintained that the total volume of sugar imported, about P3,000 per bag farmgate price will still be maintained.

Despite the decision, the SRA official assured that the country has "more than enough" supply, especially as the holiday season nears when demand historically shoots up.