THE United States government has given the Philippines a sugar quota allocation of 142,160 metric tons (MT) of raw cane sugar for fiscal year (FY) 2008 which starts from October 1 this year up to September 30 next year.

The US Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set the in-quota quantity for the tariff-rate quota on raw sugar at 1.11 million metric tons (MMT).

In its statement, the USTR noted that this is the minimal amount which the US has committed under the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Tariff-rate quotas allow countries to export specified quantities of a product to the United States at a relatively low tariff, but it subjects all imports of the product above a predetermined threshold to a higher tariff.

James Ledesma, chief of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), said the allocation given to the Philippines for fiscal year 2008 is the usual volume shipped out by local producers under the US quota system.

The Philippines is one of the beneficiaries of a US program wherein the US buys sugar from developing countries at prices higher than those quoted in the international market.

In terms of volume, the Philippines was given the third-largest allocation. The biggest allocations were given to the Dominican Republic at 185,335 MT raw value and Brazil at 152,691MT raw value.

The sugar allocation for the Philippines for FY 2008 is lower than the 167,000 MT given to the country for FY 2007 ending September 30 this year.

The USTR, however, explained that the US bought more sugar in FY 2007 because of “a continuing tight sugar market exacerbated by disastrous weather events” which reduced its domestic supplies.

The increasing use of sugarcane as feedstock for bioethanol is seen as a factor in the decline in the supply of sugar in the international market.

Earlier, the SRA has disclosed that the Philippines already filled up most of its export quota allocations, about 150,000 metric tons (MT), to the United States.

TARGETING to lower power rates through competition and at the same time rake in much-needed revenues, President Arroyo, in a briefing with economic managers Monday, directed the Department of Energy (DOE) and its attached agencies to implement open access in private and publicly owned ecozones and speed up the privatization of the generation and transmission assets of the government.

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has affirmed the authority of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to supervise the operations and limit the volume of minerals to be extracted by small-scale mining firms.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is now pinpointing up to 80,000 hectares of farmland in Visayas and Mindanao where palay could be planted up to mid-September to offset the projected losses in palay production in Luzon due to the dry spell.

SORSOGON CITY—Every year, the red-tide phenomenon infecting Sorsogon Bay since late last year,  feared to stay on for the next 25 years, would be costing this city P100 million in lost income and other economic benefits.

THE country’s real-estate tycoons stand to benefit from the decision of China to open up to the region its property management and development sector as part of its offer under the trade in services chapter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-China free-trade agreement (FTA).

THE United States government has given the Philippines a sugar quota allocation of 142,160 metric tons (MT) of raw cane sugar for fiscal year (FY) 2008 which starts from October 1 this year up to September 30 next year.