The Philippines will import refined sugar next year under a new system to plug the shortfall in domestic output without denting millgate prices, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the government will allow the importation of refined sugar in 2027 on the back of lackluster output, particularly for bottlers’ grade, typically used by beverage makers.
This, after Tiu Laurel maintained that there would be no sugar imports until end-November 2026, unless deemed necessary.
‘For next year, let’s accept the fact that we don’t have enough bottlers’ grade sugar based on our production, so we still need to import,’ he said in a recent meeting with sugar industry stakeholders.
‘But our new strategy is that we will reduce the projected volume needed to import by 20 percent […] we will only add more if the allowed quantity is still not enough,’ he added.
Tiu Laurel, who chairs the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Board, explained that this would deviate from previous sugar import programs where importation covered the entire estimated volume of shipments, which ‘slightly affected’ millgate prices due to an uptick in local production.
Meanwhile, the DA chief said the government would also take into account the imports of artificial sweeteners on identifying the allowable volume of sugar to import.
‘Now that the data on [artificial sweetener imports] is with us, we can see the total demand. If [imports] of artificial sweetener increases, we can adjust our imports,’ he said.
Under this new strategy, Tiu Laurel expressed confidence that the sector would have enhanced production in the next crop year: ‘I can confidently say that our next harvest will be better and our approach to importation will be more calibrated.’
The latest data from the SRA showed that as of July 5, the volume of raw sugar from mills fell by 11.11 percent to 1.847 million metric tons (MMT), from the 2.078 MMT recorded in the same period last year.
Unless the only mill that remains open for this season posts a significant increase in output, the Philippines will likely end the current crop year with 1.85 MMT of raw sugar, as projected by the SRA.
Industry sources said current lackluster demand and ample domestic stockpile does not warrant sugar imports at the moment despite the drop in output.