It is reported by philstar.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary and deputy spokesperson Rex Estoperez said the SRA is finalizing an import plan as directed by the President.

«The President vowed to maintain a two-month buffer stock of sugar to prevent prices from fluctuating in the market»,— Estoperez said.

The SRA is currently drafting a sugar import plan, said Pablo Luis Azcona, SRA board member and planters’ representative said.

«We made a draft for the importation plan. As a standard practice, this draft is sent to all stakeholders and the DA for comments. So far, the volume is swinging from 400,000 to 450,000 tonnes»,— he said, referring to the Department of Agriculture.

The proposed volume will cover a two-month buffer stock of sugar at the end of the milling season.

Based on the instruction of the DA and Malacañang, the imported sugar should arrive as soon as possible to bring retail prices down immediately.

«Maybe first quarter or April, depending on the delays in the shipping. The first arrival is for immediate disposal. That’s what the President wants because he really wants to lower the retail price», — Azcona said.

He clarified that the total proposed volume would not arrive all at the same time.

«We are at the peak of milling. The critical job of the SRA is to determine how much volume will be introduced to the local market and when,” Azcona said. If the imported sugar is released for the retail market, hopefully the farmers will not be too affected. A majority of our sugar consumption is industrial… 60 percent of the farmers’ harvests are bought by the industrial sector. If you give the industrial at the wrong time, farmers will suffer», — Azcona said.

The SRA arrived at the recommended amount based on the data and recommendation of the sugar industry.

«We all based that on data from the SRA surveys. We survey the stock on hand, the sugarcane farms on standing sugarcane crop… Then we can estimate from now until end of milling the projection of sugar that can be produced», — Azcona said.

Earlier this month, soft drinks manufacturers asked Marcos “to put in place a supplemental importation program in the first quarter of 2023” to prevent another sugar crisis and stabilize prices.

The Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc. (Confed) and the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) said they recognized that there is a projected shortage in domestic sugar production versus consumption at the onset of the milling season.

However, the sugar industry urged the SRA to provide safeguards to ensure that the volume and arrival of the buffer stock will be calibrated so as not to depress domestic millgate prices.