The Philippines will import an additional 33,000 metric tons of sugar this year to ensure enough supply for domestic consumption, the Sugar Regulatory Administration said Monday.
SRA administrator Ma. Regina Martin said the volume would be on top of the 133,000 MT of sugar imports earlier allowed by the agency.
SRA earlier allowed sugar producers and traders to import as much as 133,000 MT of sugar to replace the volume that would be shipped to the United States.
The Philippines received a regular US sugar quota allocation of 142,000 MT raw value under the tariff-rate quotas for crop year 2015 to 2016. The sugar quota allocation allows a country to export sugar to the US at a low tariff.
Martin said for the additional imports, only sugar traders who exported to the US would be allowed to import.
“The sugar will come from Thailand. This will be done in a staggered basis until June of this year,” Martin said.
Martin earlier said SRA expected lower sugar production for the current crop year due to the effects of El Niño dry spell.
Sugar production in crop year 2015 to 2016 is expected to reach 2.15 million to 2.19 million MT.
Martin said the volume was significantly lower than 2.32 million MT of sugar produced in the last crop year. It was also lower compared to the earlier forecast of 2.25 million to 2.35 million MT.
“Because of El Niño and a reduction in area planted with sugarcane, sugar production is projected to be lower than the initial estimate at the start of the crop year,” Martin said.