(Sa gitna ng inaasahang supply shortage) PH AANGKAT NG 200K MT NG ASUKAL

NAKATAKDANG umangkat ang Pilipinas ng 200,000 metric tons (MT) ng refined sugar sa gitna ng inaasahang kakulangan sa supply ngayong taon, ayon sa Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

Sa isang statement, sinabi ni SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica na inisyu ng board ng ahensiya ang Sugar Order No. 3 for Crop Year 2021-2022.

Ang crop year ay nagsisimula ng September 1 at nagtatapos ng August 31 ng susunod na taon.

Ang kautusan ay nagpapahintulot sa importasyon ng  200,000 metric tons ng standard at bottler’s grade refined sugar sa gitna ng inaasahang shortfall sa refined sugar.

“After assessing the damage caused by Typhoon Odette to sugarcane crops, sugar stocks at warehouses, as well as facilities and equipment of sugar mills and refineries in key sugar milling districts, it recalibrated its pre-final crop estimate of raw sugar production to 2.072 million MT down from the 2.099 million MT pre-final crop estimate prior to the onslaught of the typhoon,” sabi ng SRA chief.

Ayon kay Serafica, ang importation order ay alinsunod sa kanyang mandato “to establish and maintain balanced relation between production and requirement of sugar and marketing conditions to ensure stabilized prices.”

Ayon sa SRA, bukod  dito ay binago rin ng Philippine Association of Sugar Refineries ang refined sugar production forecast nito para sa Crop Year 2021-2022 sa 16.748 million LKg mula sa naunang production estimate na 17.572 million LKg bago manalanta si ‘Odette’.

Ang isang LKg ay katumbas ng 50-kilogram bag ng asukal.

Sinabi ni Serafica na ang pag-angkat ng 200,00 MT ng refined sugar ay para mapunan ang shortfall sa supply at magbibigay sa bansa ng sapat na buffer stock na susuporta hanggang sa pagsisimula ng susunod na milling season.

“As the economy is once again starting to open up, the demand for raw sugar and refined sugar for January this year have also increased when compared to the same month in the three previous years,” sabi ni Serafica

“Hence the need to augment sugar stocks to ensure food security and availability of sugar to cover sugar demand until the next crop year or milling season begins again,” dagdag pa niya.