It is enlivening that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has vowed to address the problems hounding the country’s sugar industry, disclosing what he saw was the apparent disdain in the past.
But the President, during the distribution of aid to various sectors in Talisay City in the heart of the top sugar-producing country in Western Visayas, went beyond the packs of sugar needed by consumers but stopped short of detailing the specifics.
The President, who also sits as chief of the Department of Agriculture, admitted there was much work to do to fix the industry, which contributes yearly about P90 billion to the domestic economy.
“We are fixing things. For example, the problem of the sugar industry, we have a lot of problems to fix because they were neglected in the previous years,” the President said, adding “For now, we are trying to ensure the people will have enough, not just sugar but all agricultural products so that we can say we have enough food supply affordable to all.”
The President underlined that while the Philippine economy was doing well, it was not exempted from the problems confronting its trade partners, citing the need to make adjustments and to find ways to assist sectors hit by economic thunderbolts.
Industry experts say the Philippines, which has 62,000 farmers working in 422,500 hectares, mainly in Western Visayas and Central Luzon, consumes around 2.5 million metric tons of sugar yearly, making this country of 114 million among the largest consumers in Asia, along with India (1.417 billion population), China (1.452 billion), and Thailand (70.2 million).
Experts on sweeteners say our bodies need glucose to survive they say is the number one food for the brain, adding it is an extremely important source of fuel throughout the body.
Recently there had been a noted shortage of the supply of sugar in the domestic market, following a poor harvest of the commodity for 2021-2022 crop year, which led to its price increase and suspicions of traders hoarding eventually.
We understand sugar production has been adversely affected by the high and increasing cost of fertilizer, weed killers and insecticides, and at least two devastating typhoons – Odette and Agaton – only last year.
Industry sources have said stable sugar supply is seen until the end of the year, with local production improving by over 20 percent year-on-year, plus the mills in Negros are now running in full capacity.
Pablo Luis Azcona, Sugar Regulatory Administration Board planters’ representative, has been quoted as saying “the selling price of raw sugar in Negros is now around P62 per kilo. Based on estimates from the farmers, this should become P85-90 per kilo of refined sugar in Manila.”
Not considered in this pricing estimate is the involvement of traders, which is beyond the control of farmers and millers, he said.
But a blessing the President has spoken – hopefully to reduce greatly the anxiety of consumers.