Cebu Daily News / Visayas

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/visayas/view_article.php?article_id=182418

Producers want sugar export stopped Cebu Daily News Posted date: January 09, 2009 Bacolod City — Sugar producers have asked the government to stop allocating 4.5 percent of the country's sugar for export as world prices have gone lower than domestic prices. The National Federation of Sugarcane Producers wanted the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to stop classifying as “D” - or for export to the world market - 4.5 percent of their production so they could take advantage of better prices in the local market and prevent a shortage in the country. Sugar producers earlier warned of declining production as planters have become discouraged by generally low prices partly brought about by sugar smuggling. Sugar prices in both world and local markets have gone down, although world prices are lower than the domestic. Butch Alisla, executive assistant to SRA Administrator Rafael Coscolluela, said world market sugar has been selling for 10 to 12 cents per pound but local prices have been ranging from 14 to 15 cents pound. Sugar producers are asking the SRA to scrap Sugar Order No. 1-B issued by SRA on Dec. 7, 2008, which split the original 7 percent "D (world market)" allocation into 4.5 percent "Dx" for export and 2.5 percent for food exporters. NFSP president Enrique Rojas, in a letter to SRA Administrator Rafael Coscolluela Tuesday, said that based on SRA's production figures, there has been a steady decline in the country's raw sugar production for three consecutive weeks starting Dec. 7. “While the production for the period is still higher compared to the same period last crop year, the difference in production is slowly declining. It is highly possible that the declining production will eventually result in a shortfall this January compared to production for the same period in January '08,” Rojas said. Rojas pointed to an earlier report, which said that SRA was projecting a 20 percent decline in sugar production compared to that of 2008. “This alarming decline in production compels us to reiterate our previous request to stop the allocation of 4.5 percent of the country's sugar for the world market,” he said. While sugar producers are currently in the middle of the milling season, they are facing low sugar prices, both in the domestic and world markets. “We have to move now for the scrapping of the “Dx” allocation so that producers, particularly the small planters, can also avail of a more reasonable price for their sugar for the rest of what is projected to be a shorter crop year,” he said. “If we continue with the present percentage allocation, we will be jeopardizing the welfare of our sugar producers who continue to suffer from low sugar prices,” he added. /Iquirer