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MANILA, Philippines - The US has allowed the Philippines to ship more sugar amid lobbying by Manila for an additional allocation.
In a statement posted on its website, the US Trade Representative said it gave an additional allocation of 72,374 metric tons of sugar to the Philippines. This would be on top of the 138,827 metric tons of country-specific in-quota allocation under favorable tariffs.
State-run Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has been lobbying for at least 100,000 metric tons of additional sugar allocation.
Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin, SRA administrator, said the Philippines can meet the additional requirement despite the shortfall in the projected harvest for crop year ending August 2012.
“We are prepared to ship out at least 100,000 metric tons since we still have remaining sugar stock readily available for the US,” Martin said.
The Philippines has been eyeing the US market to sell its excess sugar since Washington buys the sweetener at a premium.
The SRA had said the Philippines may end its sugar milling season earlier because of the lower supply of sugarcane to feed operating mills across the country.
Rosemarie Gumera, SRA policy and planning manager, said the agency expects the milling season to close by July, or a month earlier.
She said a sugar mill already closed operation due to problems in tonnage, adding that the government expects eight more to end milling this month.
Despite the early end of the milling season, SRA officials are confident of meeting the production target of 2.15 to 2.24 million metric tons for the crop year ending August 2012.
As of March 25, the Philippines' sugar production already reached 1.86 million metric tons, or 82.98 percent of the 2.242 million target for the current crop year.
In December 2011, the SRA lowered its production estimates from 2.42 million to 2.2 million amid reports that the volume of sugarcane harvest fell year-on-year.
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