Sugar sector pushes floor price via program

THE sugar industry is calling on the government to put in place a buying program that will set a floor price as a way of preventing the locally produced sweetener from nosediving.

- BY ADA PELONIA X@adapelonia

(BUSINESSMIRROR file photo)

Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations (Confed), through former Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Administrator Rafael Coscolluela, made this proposal during a previous public hearing where he said that the government program should purchase a 50-kilo bag at a minimum of P2,300.

In response, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said a mandated flood price would ensure that planters will remain profitable throughout the sugar crop year.

Azcona, however, raised a caveat that implementing a buying program would entail a "big budget" as sugar traded in the milling season reached P2.65 billion on a weekly basis. Thus, the proposed program requires further study.