No retail shortage in sugar — SRA

MANILA, Philippines — The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) maintained there is no shortage of sugar for retail consumers despite continued spike in prices but it is now mulling to implement suggested retail price for the commodity.

SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica said there is enough raw sugar and standard refined sugar for the retail market.

“The high prices of sugar is brought about by the erroneous perception being circulated by enterprising individuals that there is a shortage in sugar,” Serafica said.

“The shortage is in the bottlers’ grade or premium refined sugar required by beverage companies such as Coke. This type of sugar has very specific quality requirements and standards that can be met by only a handful of sugar refiners in the Philippines,” he said.

As milling season is about to end, refiners are constrained by the availability of bagasse, which is sourced from sugar cane fibers, to fuel their boilers for refining.

“Some are taking advantage of the issue of the lack of sugar for bottlers and using this to propagate high prices even for standard refined and raw sugar which has no shortage,” Serafica said.

The sugar shortage of bottlers and processors, on the other hand, is being addressed after the government allowed sugar importation.

Furthermore, SRA and the Department of Agriculture are already studying the possible implementation of suggested retail price for sugar to ensure consumer protection.

The DA has already implemented an SRP to eight commodities last month and it earlier said it may add more depending on price movements in the market.

“The SRA has already sent a notice to a grocery chain with exorbitant prices well beyond the prevailing price and they have been required to give their reply within five days upon receipt of the notice,” Serafica said.

Currently, prevailing price of raw sugar is P50 per kilogram in the wet market and P55 in supermarkets while prevailing price of refined sugar is P65 in wet markets and P64 in supermarkets.

Prices in wet markets are monitored by the Philippines Statistics Authority three times a week while prices in supermarkets are monitored by SRA thrice a week also.