SUGAR farmers are seeking a minimum millgate price of P2,600 per 50-kilogram bag, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said on Monday.
The millgate price is the amount paid to producers when sugar leaves the mill, before transportation and retail costs are added.
SRA Administrator Pablo Azcona said the agency has no authority to set prices at sugar mills, although current market conditions could support higher prices for local producers.
“It is difficult for the SRA to recommend a price because that is outside our mandate,” Azcona told reporters.
He said sugar inventories were lower than last year, which could help support millgate prices.
“I don’t know if we can reach that price (P2,600), but the inventory figures are favorable to farmers,” Azcona said.
Latest SRA data showed that domestic demand for raw sugar fell by 2.4 percent to 1.79 million metric tons (MT) as of Sept. 6 from 1.83 million MT a year earlier.
Demand for refined sugar, meanwhile, rose by 2.4 percent to 613,076 MT from 598,695 MT.
Raw sugar is minimally processed sugar produced directly from sugarcane, while refined sugar undergoes further processing to remove impurities and produce finer, whiter crystals.
Raw sugar inventories stood at 230,684 MT, down from 373,816 MT a year earlier. Refined sugar stocks also declined to 304,203 MT from 367,536 MT.
Milling operations officially began on Sept. 28, but sugarcane deliveries to processing facilities have been slow, Azcona said. Initial monitoring showed light truck traffic at major mills at the start of the harvest season.
Azcona expects deliveries to pick up during the week, with some mills scheduled to begin operations on Oct. 1.
Based on the Department of Agriculture’s Bantay Presyo monitoring as of Sept. 29, refined sugar retailed at P80 per kilogram, washed (partly purified) sugar at P75 and brown (less processed) sugar at P70.
