The Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc. , Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Inc. , and the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters Inc. also urged the government to engage the industry in an “earnest” dialogue. The three sugarcane producers’ federations represent 50 percent of domestic production.
The producers’ groups, however, said that importing sugar via the minimum access volume scheme to bring down the retail prices of sugar at this time is unwarranted. “There is thus no urgent need for importation especially during peak milling season. There is also no reason why retail prices should remain disproportionately high when mill-gate prices have already dropped,” the groups said.
Confed, PANAYFED and NFSP reiterated their call to concerned government agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry, to “guard against excessive retail prices” that are not in sync with prevailing mill-gate prices.