The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) will start selling sugar at P70 per kilo at its Quezon City and Bacolod City offices, the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced on Monday, Oct. 17.

In a statement, the DA said sugar will be sold at the same price at Kadiwa rolling stores and Kadiwa on Wheels to make sugar more affordable and accessible to consumers.

“Sugar sold by DA-SRA, through the Kadiwa stores are intended for direct consumers and are not for resale,” the agriculture department said in a statement.

Under the Sugar Importation Policy for Crop Year 2022-2023, DA said each importer has been asked to commit 10 percent of their imported sugar allocation to be sold through DA at P70 per kilo in order to ensure an adequate supply of affordable sugar.

The SRA described the initiative as a "temporary measure" while sugar mills return to full operation.

As such, it said that once the majority of the country's sugar mills are fully operational, a sufficient supply of affordable sugar will be available.

The volume imported under Sugar Order 2 by private importers has supplemented the local supply.

SRA had granted clearances for imported sugar to 13 foreign sugar traders as of Oct. 14, 2022, totaling 33,772.50 metric tons of refined sugar destined for consumers and other end users.

Through the Kadiwa Project of the DA and the SRA, the agriculture department said some of this sugar will be distributed/sold (at P70 to P80 per kilo) to different grocery stores, supermarkets, as well as public and wet markets.

In addition to this, the SRA also awarded permissions for industrial users totaling 6,625 metric tons in volume.

The DA said imported sugar is scheduled to arrive in the nation between October and November 2022.

Based on the DA's Oct. 17 data, the price of washed sugar ranges from P75 to P93 per kilo in the National Capital Region (NCR).