The Philippines will resume exporting raw sugar to the United States, starting with 25,300 metric tons in fiscal year 2024, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said over the weekend.
It issued Sugar Order No. 3 series of 2023-2024 allowing the exports under the US raw sugar tariff-rate quota (TRQ) world trade allocation. TRQ allows countries to export specified quantities of a product to the United States at a relatively low tariff. The Philippines is one of 39 countries singled out for participation in this first-come, first-served allocation system.
It will mark the first shipment to the US after three years of non-compliance with the program due to several years of low domestic production.
The SRA confirmed that this year’s production exceeded 1.92 million metric tons, allowing a surplus of 25,300 MT to be allocated to the US market.
The first shipment is expected to leave the Philippines in August, with arrival in the US scheduled for September.
The move is expected to strengthen the Philippines’ position as a reliable sugar exporter and contribute to the global supply chain.
The Philippines also secured a 145,23 metric ton raw value (MTRV) allocation for raw cane sugar exports to the United States for fiscal year 2025 under the TRQ system, the third highest allocation next to the Dominican Republic’s 189,343 MTRV and Brazil’s 155,993 MTRV.
The US Trade Representative (USTR) announced the new list of allocations on July 25, 2024 that also includes, refined, specialty sugar and sugar-containing products apart from raw cane sugar.
