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The Philippines will import 150,000 metric tons of refined sugar following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s approval of the plan
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The purchase is part of the sugar importation program for crop year 2022-2023 under SRA Sugar Order No. 2
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75,000 MT will be allocated to industrial users; the other 75,000 MT will be for consumers
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The Sugar Regulatory Administration says the importation is necessary “to maintain a balanced supply and demand of sugar for domestic consumption”
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The imported sugar should arrive in the Philippines no later than November 15, 2022
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Sugar production for crop year 2022-2023 has been allocated 100% for the domestic market
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the importation of 150,000 metric tons of refined sugar, according to a new order by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).
The purchase is part of the sugar importation program for crop year 2022-2023 under SRA Sugar Order No. 2 dated September 1, which Marcos, who is also the Agriculture Secretary, signed as SRA board chairman and was posted recently on the SRA website. Also signing the order were other Department of Agriculture and SRA officials.
Sugar Order No. 1, meanwhile, orders that sugar production for crop year 2022-2023, or from September 1 this year to August 31, 2023, should be 100% for the domestic market. Sugar production is expected to be 1.876 million MT.
Sugar Order No. 1 was dated August 23 but also published on the SRA website recently.
Of the 150,000 MT to be imported under SRA Order No.2, industrial users will get 75,000 MT; the other 75,000 MT will be for consumers.
SRA said that after studying stakeholders’ comments, inputs, and information, it deemed “necessary to adopt additional responsive and pre-emptive measures to ensure domestic supply and manage sugar prices, in order to achieve the foregoing policy declarations through timely government intervention by way of importation in order to maintain a balanced supply and demand of sugar for domestic consumption.”
SRA said Sugar Order No. 2 was issued after stakeholders, following a consultation in August, submitted their respective positions and letters of endorsement “recognizing the need for an importation program for crop year 2022-2023.”
Last month, Senate president Juan Miguel Zubiri led a delegation of farmers, millers, sugar workers, and refiners in a consultation with Marcos on the issues of sugar importation and production. He said the consensus in the meeting was to import only 150,000 MT, which was determined using available data on the remaining demand.
The proposed quantity was only half of the 300,000 MT amount under SRA Sugar Order No. 4, which was earlier rejected by Marcos. Malacañang declared Sugar Order No. 4 as “illegal”, saying it was signed without the authority of Marcos.
Days after declaring Sugar Order No. 4 illegal, Marcos said the government was considering direct sugar importation by food makers as part of emergency measures to address industry worries about shortage of the commodity.
Under Sugar Order No. 2, the import program will be open to all duly registered SRA international sugar traders in good standing for crop years 2020-21 and 2021-22, and with renewed registration as international sugar trader for crop year 2022-23.
The volume for allocation per registered international sugar trader will be pro-rated respectively on each volume assignment under Sugar Order No. 2.
Those who have participated in the previous import program under Sugar Order No. 3 series of 2021-2022 as industrial users will not be eligible to participate in the importation program.
The SRA Regulation Department in Quezon City and Bacolod City will begin accepting applications and requirements for the import program three days after Sugar Order No.2 takes effect. Allocations will be awarded three days after the last day of acceptance.
Registered international sugar traders participating in the import program should ensure that their respective allocated volumes will arrive in the Philippines not later than November 15, 2022. Each participant will then be given one month from November 15 to completely distribute his allocation to clients for industrial use and/or direct consumption.
Importers who fail to bring in any volume of its allocation on or before November 15 may be slapped with sanctions and penalties by the SRA Board as it may deem fit and proper.
Imported sugar under Sugar Order No.2 should only be stored in SRA-registered warehouses or directly in the declared industrial users’ warehouse or consumers’ warehouse as indicated in the importers’ application.
The declared industrial users’ or consumers’ warehouses must be pre-inspected to avoid co-mingling of stocks, should there be any other than the imported sugar.
Every allocation will be subject to a performance bond of P740 per 50-kilogram bag, payable to SRA in form of manager’s check, to answer for violations or non-compliance by participant importers. The bond will be released upon submission of the participant importer’s proof of purchase of an equal volume of locally produced sugar contemporaneous with the importation and compliance to the undertaking under Sugar Order No. 2.
Non-compliance with or violation of any provision of Sugar Order No. 2 or any other orders, resolutions, or circulars of SRA by eligible participants in the import program will result in forfeiture of their performance bond and perpetual disqualification from the import programs of SRA, without prejudice to other sanctions as provided in the SRA book of penalties and existing laws, rules, and regulations.
Any person who imports sugar but is not an eligible participant or does so without the approved allocation granted by SRA will be considered engaged in sugar smuggling and will be prosecuted under Republic Act No. 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act and other existing laws, rules, and regulations.
