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Philippines may import more sugar
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s sugar production is expected to remain low, possibly requiring more imports for the country.
An industry source privy to the matter said local sugar production is seen nowhere near recovery for the next crop year which will start next month.
“Next year’s estimate is even lower than this year’s actual production. Very slightly less than two million metric tons (MT) for the next crop year. But we want it validated again,” the source told The STAR.
“This is still due to climate change. We had a very harsh El Niño which hit us,” the source said.
With less than the two-million expected production, the Philippines will likely lean toward more importation to meet local demand.
The country needs to maintain at least 2.2 million MT in local supply.
Production is expected to settle at 2.072 million MT for this crop year, still lower that last crop year’s 2.08 million MT. This trend has been ongoing over the last three years.
In fact, the Sugar Regulatory Administration recently allowed the importation of 250,000 MT as the crop year nears closing by end-August.
This was the second round of importation following the 150,000 MT in October 2018 just when the crop year started.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier projected that sugar consumption would increase to 2.3 million MT following a flat 2018 as sugar sweetened beverage consumption slowed due to higher taxes.
Domestic food processing and beverage sectors, nevertheless, will continue to expand while consumers adjust to higher sugar taxes.
This crop year, demand is at 2.25 million MT as imported sugar fills in the decline in local production and the drop in imports of high fructose corn syrup.
Almost all sugar produced in the Philippines is consumed locally where roughly 50 percent of domestic consumption is accounted for by industrial users, 32 percent by households, and the remaining 18 percent by institutions.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/08/05/1940558/philippines-may-import-more-sugar#fU3mBa7MHDjxmql3.99