The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said it has slashed the conversion fee it collects from sugar producers by half.
SRA Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin issued Sugar Order 7-A authorizing the reduction of the sugar conversion fee to P10 per 50-kilo bag (Lkg) from P20 per Lkg-bag.
“The SRA received requests from sugar producers for a reduction of conversion fee from P20 per Lkg-bag to P10 per Lkg-bag,” Martin said in the order she issued.
SRA, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, would collect the conversion fee for the reclassification of “D” or world market sugar, into “B,” or domestic sugar.
In a separate order, SRA allowed the conversion of a total of 75,109.868 metric tons (MT) of “D” sugar into “B” sugar. The volume consists of 70,669.98 MT of verified “D” sugar quedans as of May 22 and the remaining 4,440.86 MT from the previous crop year.
The Philippines was earlier forced to temporarily stop the shipment of sugar to the US and other countries to secure local supply, as domestic production for the current crop year ending August 31 is expected to fall.
The dry spell caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon forced the SRA to adjust production figures downward.
As of June 1 this year, the country’s total raw sugar production for crop year 2014-2015 is now estimated at 2.31 million MT (MMT), lower than the initial projection of 2.5 MMT.
Meanwhile, Washington has announced the reallocation of volumes to countries that traditionally export sugar to the US. The US Trade Representative (USTR) made the country-specific reallocation after Manila announced that it will no longer be able to fill half of the 136,201 MT it has been allocated for fiscal year 2015.
Following consultations with quota holding countries, USTR said in a statement that it is reallocating a total of 157,937 MT raw value (MTRV) of the original tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for raw cane sugar from countries that are unable to fill previously allocated sugar TRQ quantities.
Sugar-producing countries, such as the Philippines, export sugar to the US under the TRQ scheme, which allows countries to export their produce at a “relatively low tariff.”
A total of 22 countries received additional allocations. USTR said the allocations are based on the countries’ historical shipments to the US.