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MANILA - Sugar production for the current crop year is on target, with the industry already hitting 50 percent of its goal, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said on Monday.
Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin, SRA chief, said production remains on track to hitting the 2.356 million metric ton target for crop year 2012-2013, adding that output would pick up in time for summer.
“As of January 6, our production has already reached 1.093 million MT with weekly production rate of 67,548 MT. This is higher by 23.83 percent compared to 882,956 MT during the same period last year,” Martin said.
The administrator attributed the increase in production to early milling, higher rate of crushing, and favorable weather conditions in the fourth quarter of 2012 -- conditions that have continued so far in the first quarter of 2013.
She said milling season is expected to close before July, or more than a month earlier than last year, after farmers embarked on advanced cropping.
SRA has maintained its sugar production outlook for crop year ending September 2013 despite two massive typhoons that hit the country in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The agency expects strong demand for 2013 amid stable prices and the mid-term elections, adding that demand from export markets such as the US remain strong.
The production target for crop year 2012-2013 is five percent higher than the 2.243 million MT produced in the crop year ending August 2012.
Of the total production, SRA has allocated 10 percent to the US quota program, another 82 percent to the domestic market, and eight percent to the world market excluding the US.
With the allocation, the country can meet the regular US quota of 138,827 MT, a buffer stock for a possible additional US quota of 61,993 MT, around 2.03 million MT for domestic demand (including buffer stocks), and 247,000 MT for the world market.
An initial shipment of 27,000 MT of the sweetener for the US quota program started this month, while exports to the world already reached more than 40,000 metric tons.
Martin said the agency already abandoned plans for an additional shipment to the US because of weak prices as a result of bumper harvest in South American countries such as Mexico.
“Washington has already informed us that they have enough supply of sugar for now. Also, our sugar is not that competitive as compared with South American countries, which enjoy unrestricted access to the US market,” Martin said.
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