Victorias Milling net earnings declines 21% in 2016

MANILA, Philippines – Listed sugar miller Victorias Milling Company Inc. (VMC) saw its net income for crop year 2016 go down by 21 percent due to low cane productivity as an effect of the recent El Niño phenomenon.

In a regulatory filing, the company reported a net income of P798 million from the P1.01 billion recorded in 2015.

Production data showed that ending August 2016, the company milled 3.11 million tons of cane, seven percent below the 3.36 million output in 2015.

This is also a bit short of VMC’s projection of 3.3 million tons of cane for the crop year as a result of the dry spell which deprived canes of optimum soil moisture for maximum growth.

The company’s raw sugar production decreased to 6.21 million 50-kilogram bags (LKG) in 2016 from 7.02 million LKG in 2015 due to the drop of volume of canes hauled for the year and lower quality of canes milled.

Milling recovery rate was also down at 2.0 50-kilogram bags per ton cane (LKG/TC) milled for the two seasons compared with the 2.19 50-LKG/TC last year.

Sales of molasses went down by almost 40 percent to P157.5 million from P258.7 million in the comparative period with total volume of 16.11 million MT and an average price of P8,954.19 per MT.

Meanwhile, alcohol sales posted a 16-percent increase to P397 million from the previous P342 million, while sales of other products rose to P48.6 million from P44.2 million in 2015.

VMC raw sugar sales slightly inched up 13 percent to P3.33 billion from P2.94 billion.

VMC is engaged in integrated raw and refined sugar manufacturing with plant facilities in Negros Occidental. It operates mill and refinery facilities for sugar and allied products, and engineering services.

Its operating subsidiaries include Victorias Food Corp., Victorias Agricultural Land Corp., Canetown Development Corp., and Victorias Golf and Country Club Inc.