The Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) announced that sugar production exceeded the government's target despite the challenges posed by El Niño.
In a statement, the group of sugar millers said that the industry produced 1.86 million metric tons of raw sugar during crop year 2023-2024, surpassing the initial estimate of 1.85 million metric tons set by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).
This is also an increase of 3.6 percent compared to the 1.79 million metric tons recorded in the previous crop year.
Back in January, Pablo Azcona, SRA administrator, expressed concerns that El Niño’s impact could potentially reduce sugar output by 10 percent to 15 percent.
SRA forecasted a potential decrease in sugar output to 1.75 million metric tons for crop year 2023-2024 from the initial estimate of 1.85 million metric tons.
While the output surpassed expectations, the PSMA said it would not adequately fulfill domestic demand, underscoring the ongoing requirement for importation.
“We have supported the import programs of the government through the SRA when it is determined that our country’s supply is insufficient to meet demand,” PSMA President Terence Uygongco said.
“All we ask is that the volume to be imported is the deficiency in production including buffer stocks for contingencies and scheduled arrival of imports so as not to coincide with sugar milling,” he added.
Azcona believed that this was achieved because of President Marcos’ effort to move the harvest cycle from August to September 1 to boost the sugar yield. He stated, “We will continue to push for the original October 1 start of milling to further improve our cane quality.”
“We were lucky that El Niño only hit the tail end of the harvestable cane, and the effect was negated by the increase in planted area,” the SRA chief added.
The sugar regulators also noted that the El Niño effect from November last year to the present has damaged plant canes that were supposed to be harvested this October.
“So far in Batangas, South Negros, and Mindanao, the October harvest has suffered,” he elaborated.
Despite this, the SRA recorded a sugar hike of 3,000 hectares because of the good farmgate prices from the previous years, which encouraged farmer productivity.
“We are hoping for the rains to come soon so that the 2024 to 2025 season will be as good as well.”