Importing more sugar will sabotage local industry, agricultural workers say

MANILA, Philippines — Agricultural workers slammed the government’s proposal to import another 450,000 metric tons of sugar this year, calling it a “callous and ineffective” move to stave off another surge in the prices of the commodity.

Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) said on Friday that the government’s proposal to bring in competition would only harm the local sugar industry, especially for workers affected by the closure of a leading Batangas-based sugar mill.

What the local sugar industry needs, the federation said, is “state support” through fuel and fertilizer subsidies, not “state-sponsored competition brought about by wanton importation.”

“Is the SRA so keen on sabotaging the sugar industry?” said John Milton Lozande, spokesperson for UMA and chairperson of the National Federation of Sugar Workers.

Sugar mill Central Azucarera Don Pedro — which produced 12,000 metric tons of sugar a day and captured 68% of the market in Batangas, according to the group — ceased operations mid-milling season due to “operational and financial challenges,” based on documents from the website of the Sugar Regulatory Administration. 

“Its closure was as much a blow to the livelihoods of its workers as it was to those of small planters whose produce could no longer be accommodated by the smaller mill,” the group said. 

The group added that the closure would affect the “country’s ongoing decline in its sugar production, caused mainly by the rising costs of fuel and fertilizer which government continued to refuse (to subsidize).” 

UMA also suggested a government takeover of the mill “not only to save livelihoods; it would also improve sugar production and add to the country’s dwindling supply.”

“At the very least, the SRA could make good on its acting administrator John Alba’s word that it was willing to assist ‘in facilitating the milling of canes’ from sugar planters,” the group added.

Sugar is currently priced at around P87 to P110, based on the Department of Agriculture’s latest price monitoring report. Fears of its return to more volatile prices prompted President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., who has taken the agriculture portfolio, order a two-month buffer stock.

Sugar prices soared 38.8% year-on-year in December 2022 after harsh weather disturbances in the previous months contributed to farmers’ lower production.