The local market is still dominated by imported, “cheap” sugar even in the midst of the harvest season, negatively affecting local sugar producers but not benefiting consumers either, the head of the Cebu-based sugarcane farmers said on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023.Bogo-Medellin Sugarcane Planters Association Inc.
president Al Lim, in a message to SunStar Cebu, questioned why despite the presence of imported sugar in the local market, retail sugar prices remain at an average of P4,000 per 50-kilogram bag, which is high considering that, according to him, sugar traders buy newly milled sugar from the local farmers at only P2,500 per bag.. “Where does the very big margin go?” Lim said.On Nov. 24, Lim told SunStar Cebu that local sugarcane farmers were experiencing low production yields, which should have led to prices rising amid the low supply, but farmers wondered why sugar farmgate prices remained low.“The consequence is low production; therefore, (there should be) higher prices because of lack of supply. But as it is now, low production but still low price