The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) is now helping Filipino traders prepare the additional 63,830 metric tons raw value (MTRV) of sugar that will be shipped to the United States under a preferential trade scheme.
The SRA on Monday issued Sugar Order (SO) 6, which authorized the extension of the verification period for the quedan permits of “A” sugar, or those bound for the US, to August 11.
SRA Administrator Anna Rosario V. Paner said extending the quedan permit verification would ensure that the Philippines would be able to fill the additional sugar quota provided by the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
“It is for the long-term interest of the Philippines and sugarcane industry to fill-up the regular and additional US quota for quota year [QY] 2016-2017,” Paner said in SO 6 dated August 2, which was recently uploaded in the SRA web site.
The SRA, a government-owned and -controlled corporation attached to the Department of Agriculture, noted that the Philippines has a carryover volume of 57,684 MT of “A” sugar after filling up the original quota of 136,188.54 MT.
“To ensure the timely arrival of the additional US quota shipment/s in the US Customs Territory on or before October 31, there is a need to resume the verification of ‘A’ sugar in order to determine the volume of ‘A’ sugar quedans available for shipment,” SO 6 read.
Under SO 6, all “A” sugar quedan-permits issued for crop year (CY) 2016-2017, which will end on August 31, and in the previous crop years are eligible for verification.
“The deadline of verification of ‘A’ or US quota sugar produced as of week ending July 30 of CY 2016-2017 and previous crop years shall be on August 11,” Paner said.
“Any ‘A’ sugar quedan-permits not verified by August 11 shall be declared homeless and non-negotiable, non-marketable and the same cannot be withdrawn from the mill,”
Paner added.
The USTR recently announced that it will allow the Philippines to export more sugar to America at reduced tariff rates under the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) scheme.
The total additional volume given to the Philippines for the current fiscal year reached 63,830 MTRV, or 61,154.49 MT commercial weight.
Of the total volume, 14,932 MT came from the unused volume of other quota holders. The remaining 48,898 MT is part of the 244,690 MT shortfall in the sugar supply of the US for fiscal year 2017.
“The 244,690 MT is in addition to the minimum amount to which the US is committed under the World Trade Organization Uruguay Round Agreements,” the USTR said, adding that the allocations were based on the countries’ historical shipments to the US.
The Philippines got the highest reallocation volume from Washington among other countries exporting sugar under its TRQ scheme.
“The USDA also announced that all sugar entering the US under the FY 2017 raw sugar TRQ will be permitted to enter US Customs territory through October 31, a month later than the usual last entry date,” the USTR said.
Sugar industry stakeholders have earlier welcomed the additional quota, saying this would help reduce the country’s high sugar inventory and stabilize sugar prices.
“Filling up the quota will reduce greatly our sugar inventory, relieve sugar mill warehouses of congestion and give us a fresh start in the new crop year,” Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) Executive Director Francisco D. Varua told the BusinessMirror in an earlier interview.
“Definitely, PSMA can find a way to fill up the additional quota,” Varua said, adding that the additional shipments could arrive in the US by September.