THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) remains uncertain regarding the volume of exports to the United States because of floods, dry spells and red-striped soft-scaled insect (RSSI) cases.
"Last year, we were able to export 99,000 metric tons of [sugar] to the US. This year, because of the floods that we had in Negros, and then the dry spell, plus the RSSI, I'm not really sure whether we will export and to what amount as of now,” SRA Administrator Pablo Azcona said.
“[W]e need to look at the start of the milling so that we can confirm our estimates on the yield... so we are non-committal as of now," he added.
As of mid-August, the Philippines' sugar exports to the United States had grown 49.86 percent to 99,038 metric tons from 66,086 metric tons last year.
Azcona said shipments to the US were "a big help when we had a lot of raw sugar. As of now, we are expecting a drop in production.” “We may have to make a decision whether or not we will export because we need to inform the US, but we will do it once the milling starts. As of now, we're just basing it on verified areas hit by RSSI and potential yield drop."
Azcona also said that it had not yet been decided whether the SRA would resort to sugar importation.
"This was not yet discussed. If you look at our inventories, our raw sugar is down by 30-something percent, refined sugar, meanwhile, is the same amount as last year prior to importation," he said.
Based on the latest SRA data, raw sugar production was down by 11 percent to 1.85 million metric tons as of mid-August from 2.079 million metric tons a year earlier.
Refined sugar production, meanwhile, grew 11.60 percent to 689,808 metric tons from 618,082 metric tons.