‘Solution’ on HFCS issue not acceptable — sugar group

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The so-called ‘win-win solution’ offered by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol—on the controversial importation and use of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) by beverage manufacturers—is "unacceptable," according to a statement made by the Sugar Alliance of the Philippines (SAP).

“It continues to reek of preference for the beverage companies rather than for sugar farmers, SAP spokesperson Dino Yulo said, citing that Coca-Cola uses 90 percent HFCS and just 10 percent local sugar.

But Piñol said Coca-Cola is willing to adjust to up to 80:20 ratio. He added that Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines has vowed to increase its local sugar procurement if the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) allows its access to the export market, which is significantly cheaper than the domestic one.

Yulo said Piñol seems to be seeing only one side of the equation, and “unfortunately that side favors the multi-nationals rather than the sector he needs to be protecting.”

Yulo said: “We have been calling for ‘proper consultation’ and we are taken aback by these pronouncements from the Secretary sans a dialog, foremost with the affected parties, and in this case, the sugar industry stakeholders.”

Piñol said Coca-Cola agreed to make advance purchase of its 2018 sugar requirement to stabilize the current oversupply in the country. “They also agreed to increase even more their utilization of sugar provided that they’ll be given access to ‘D’ sugar,” he added.

Yulo said Secretary Piñol knows that even at P1,300 price per bag of sugar, our farmers are barely surviving and have nothing extra to even buy inputs for the next planting. “How can he even entertain proposals of allowing these industrial users access to ‘D’ sugar,” he asked.

“D” sugar, which accounts for 20 percent of the country’s produce, is currently valued at P900 per LKg while “B” sugar, which is 74 percent, is at present at the P1,400 level.

The remaining six percent is “A” sugar which falls under the US quota, according to SAP. The company has been given six months to restructure its production process to avoid a surge in soft drink prices.

Yulo dismissed this as a “mere excuse” on restructuring of beverage companies of their processing machines, which he claimed only to justify their massive importation of HFCS in the next six months.

“We are baffled that the Secretary continues to speak for the beverage companies yet have no time to dialog with us so he can see the real picture from the ground and perhaps finally understand where we are coming from,” he said.

For the current crop year alone, HFCS importation has pulled down sugar prices from P1,800 per bag to about P1,400 per bag, translating to potential revenue losses of about P20 billion, SAP records showed.

While sugar produced locally is expensive compared to those from other countries, Yulo pointed out that  government must also take into account that the sugar farmers in the Philippines “have never been given any government subsidies, and we are even ‘taxed high’ like any other industries.”

Yulo said that if Secretary Piñol can also address this, then “maybe, and only maybe can we survive on a much lower-priced sugar.”  (FREEMAN)