THE Bayan Muna party-list filed a resolution on Monday seeking a House investigation into the sugar regulator’s plan to import sugar during the milling season, which planters have said is depressing the prices they are paid for their produce.
House Resolution 2495 calls on the House committee on agriculture and food to look into the Sugar Regulatory Agency’s (SRA) Sugar Order No. 3, which authorized imports of 200,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar, which the SRA said was needed to supplement stocks after some sugar-producing regions sustained damage from Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai).
“The decision… to import 200,000 MT of refined sugar is questionable due to its contrasting nature with regards to the Department (of Agriculture’s) own data citing a prominent increase in refined sugar production, as demonstrated by the SRA report last Feb. 6, 2022,” the legislators said in their resolution.
They said the imports distort prices during the milling season, to the detriment of sugar producers. — Jaspearl Emerald G. Tan
