It is expected that there will be a downtrend in sugar prices
Wouldn’t it be a sweet treat for many Filipinos to experience a downtrend in sugar prices, especially this coming holiday season?
Based on the article in Inquirer, the Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) said that it is expected that sugar in retail markets should decrease as prices received by producers at the mill gate decline.
PSMA executive director Jesus Barrera said, “Given the lower mill gate prices of sugar at the start of the current crop year 2023-2024, which started on Sept. 1, there should be downward adjustments in retail sugar prices.”
Based on the data from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), the sugar mill gate price averaged P2,825.35 per 50-kilogram (LKg) bag and this decreased by 2.8 percent from P2,745.06 per LKg as of Sept. 24.
The SRA was alarmed by the declining mill gate and this is at the expense of local producers. With this, the agency had to hold the release of 150,000 metric tons of imported refined sugar indefinitely, and this aims to protect farmers and millers while maintaining a reasonable volume of sugar for domestic use.
SRA said that the downtrend was caused by “oversupply.” “We have to ensure local supply and we have seen in the past seven months [that] farm-gate prices are going down and retail prices are maintained. So someone is profiteering somewhere,” SRA administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said.
He added that they haven’t found any discrepancies so far and they might check the balances of the warehouse.
With hopeful thinking, it is a good thing if there are no discrepancies. The holiday season is filled with a lot of gatherings and get-togethers. This is also the time of the year when foods are abundant and people enjoy eating more.
For average-earning families, it will be a sweet treat that they will be able to experience the downtrend in sugar prices. It is because prices of other commodities are expected to be lower also.
I just hope that SRA and other agencies involved in this matter will make sure that there is no one gaining from the fact that the retail prices have no movement even though the farm-gate prices already decreased.