National Sugar Stakeholders Summit Against the Liberalization of the Sugar Industry
The National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) will hold a national sugar stakeholders summit against the liberalization of the sugar industry on October 19 -20, 2019 in Quezon City. Said summit is necessary given the Philippine government’s proposal to liberalize the unlimited importation of sugar into the country to supposedly lower the price of sugar in the local retail market.
Before the above proposal, the Sugar Regulatory Administration allowed the importation of 200,000 tons of sugar by the private sector on June 11, 2018. This was to avert the further increases in retail prices, citing supply issues arising from a lower production this year.
Those allowed to import sugar include URC, which had 9.88% of total imported allotted to it. Next were 3 sugar mills namely Victorias, Central Azucarera de San Antonio, and Busco Sugar Milling. All 4 millers including URC were allotted 20% of imported allotted.
The biggest importer was All Asian Countertrade Inc. Which had 20.6% imported allotted to it. It is a subsidiary of Sojitz Corporation, which is Japanese owned.
Other than that, President Duterte came out with Administrative Order (AO) No. 13 removing non-tariff barriers and streamlining administrative procedures on the importation of agricultural products on September 21, 2018.
This AO includes sugar and was done to increase importation of said commodity supposedly to lower the costs of sugar in the retail market. Inflation rose because it was brought about by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.
Ironically, the first tranche of the TRAIN Act which was implemented in January 2018 increased taxes on sugar-sweetened beverage by P6 per liter on drinks containing caloric or non-caloric sweetener, and P12 per liter on drinks containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Only 3-in-1 coffee and milk are exempt from this tax.
On January 16, 2019, then Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno announced the deregulation of the importation of sugar into the country supposedly to make it more competitive to the rest of the world. He was supported by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on this.
Then on February 18, 2019, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) proposed to set up a regulatory import fee of 35% for shipments from all sources to serve as a “tariff substitute” for the protection of farmers.
Other than sugar, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reveal that the country has also increased its importation of molasses from 198,000 tons in 2015 to 484,000 tons in 2016.
Some bio-ethanol producers under the Center for Alcohol Research and Development (CARD) has requested the Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) to import more molasses as feedstock to supposedly meet the annual demand of 500 million liters of bio-ethanol, as the country can only supply 60 percent of the requirement.
Sugar has already been liberalized, when tariff for imported sugar was lowered gradually from 38% in 2011 to just 5% in 2015 due to the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).
This is the reason why the government came up with the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) supposedly to be more competitive with cheaper sugar especially from Thailand.
Then on August 1 this year, the SRA through Sugar Order No. 5 dated August 1, authorized mandates the importation of 250,000 Metric Tons (MT) of refined and bottler’s grade sugar under a “Second Sugar Import Program for Crop Year 2018-2019”.
SRA reserved 100,000 tons of imported sugar for the industrial users (Coca-Cola, etc.) and 150,000 tons was reserved for the local traders.
Most recently on August 28 this year, Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. wrote Finance chief Carlos Dominguez to lower the excise tax on HFCS to P6 in parity with sugar even when it was allowed to import bottle grade sugar by the SRA.
Then on Sept. 5, 2019, the SRA issued Sugar Order no. 1 for crop year 2019-2020. It allots 5%of sugar as A sugar for the US market and 95% B sugar for the local market. Sugar for the US market is P1100+ per Lkg. while it is P1,500+ for the domestic one. A number of sugar planters are advocating 100% for the B market.
Reactions to the Proposed Liberalization of Sugar Imports
There has been stiff opposition against the liberalization of sugar imports from various stakeholders in the sugar industry. These include planters, millers, workers and Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB) groups especailly in Negros Island where majority of Philippine sugar is produced. Other than that the LGU’s of Negros and Bukidnon also passed resolutions against liberalization of sugar imports.
The Philippine Senate also passed a resolution on February 6, 2019 to abort the sugar import liberalization plan. In the Lower House, the Makabayan bloc as early as October 22, 2018 called for a congressional probe on the proposed massive importation of sugar and its adverse effects on the local sugar industry, particularly on the sugar workers.
Anakpawis Partylist Representative Ariel Casilao also drafted a resolution this March 2019 to call on the House of Representatives to urge the Executive Department to stop the plan of its economic managers to liberalize sugar importation to prevent the untimely demise of the local sugar industry and the pauperization of sugar workers spread in twenty-eight (28) provinces in the country.
The National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) and Kaisahan Batangas staged a protest action on February 11, 2019 during the Sugarcane Stakeholders Summit to air out its stand on the issue. NFSW also came out with a number of press releases on this. It could be noted though that the voices of the sugar workers especially on the issue of their very low wages is not aired out except by UMA and NFSW. Sugar workers in different areas receive as low as P170 -350 per person per day.
Even during the Feb. 11 activity Wennie Sancho, convenor of Save the Sugar Industry Movement, who attended the summit, said they are dismayed as the voice of the workers and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) were not amplified. In fact, their manifestos were not even read, during said activity.
Other than that, the voices of the sugar workers in Bukidnon, Panay, Batangas, Central and Northern Luzon have not yet been amplified.
It is hoped that the planned national sugar stakeholders summit against the liberalization of the sugar industry would also be heard this coming October 19 -20, so that opposition to the importation of sugar would become national in character.
Activity Description and Objectives
- Mobilize all sugar stakeholders especially the sugar workers and small planters to come up with a national position and set up a network to campaign against the liberalization of the sugar industry
- Amplify also the issues of the more than 700,000 sugar workers, which comprises the backbone of the Philippine sugar industry so that they can also be understood by the small planters.
Target Participants: This Sugar Summit will be participated by around 100 participants from various sugar producing areas particularly Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Batangas, Eastern Visayas, Negros Island, Panay, Bukidnon, Davao Sur.
