Falling millgate and farmgate prices of sugar are threatening to push local small-scale farmers and Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) toward financial ruin, poverty, and food insecurity.

Bukidnon 3rd district Rep. Audrey Kay Zubiri gave this warning Tuesday, Jan. 13 as she cited data from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and recent industry reports.

Figures have showed that millgate prices for raw sugar have declined over the past few months, with the latest reports showing that prices have dropped from P2,350.20 to P2,164.18 per 50-kilogram bag in December 2025.

"Mid-December mas bumaba pa yung price to P2,000 per bag (The price further fell to P2,000 per bag in mid-December). If this trend continues, our local farmers are not only looking at losing P200 to P300 per bag sold but possibly even more.” Zubiri said.

The sugarcane industry is composed of an estimated 88,000 farmers, around 84 percent of whom or roughly 74,000 of them have landholdings of less than five hectares and considered as small-scale farmers.

Close to 700,000 Filipinos are also directly employed in sugarcane production with an approximate five to six million number of dependents.

"Imagine almost 85 percent of our sugarcane farmers are small-scale farmers isama pa natin yung mga (and let's include those) directly employed in the sugar industry and their families. Sila at ang mga pamilya nila ang nalulugi at nawawalan ng kabuhayan dahil sa pagbaba ng market prices ng asukal," Zubiri pointed out.

(It's them and their families who lose profits and worse, their livelihood because of the falling market prices of sugar.)

"Not only do they worry about selling their products at a loss, they also continuously face increasing costs for essential inputs kagaya ng labor, fertilizers, at pesticides. Wala naman silang malaking puhunan gaya ng malalaking kumpanya (Unlike the big companies, they don't have big capital). How can we expect our farmers to thrive under these market conditions?” Zubiri asked.

The minority lawmaker also raised the issue of agricultural smuggling, and called for a stronger enforcement of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act.

In May 2025, where the Bureau of Customs (BOC) flagged around P9 million worth of smuggled sugar and artificial sweeteners from Thailand and Vietnam.

“One of the issues that we must immediately address is smuggling of sugar and artificial sweeteners. In recent years, we have seen multiple cases of smuggling sugar and artificial sweeteners into the country. Agricultural smuggling robs our local farmers of the opportunity to compete fairly in the local market.

"If we don’t start taking a more aggressive and coordinated approach against smuggling, we risk losing the momentum of our efforts to protect local producers and strengthen our domestic sugar industry,” Zubiri said.