Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar said the department’s decision to import sugar “is based on data in coordination with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).”
The DA has been questioned on its planned importation of sugar. A court also issued a temporary restraining order against the importation.
But Dar said the department’s policy was “based on data” gathered with the PSA, and that the argument of the United Sugar Producers Federation, which is opposing the importation, “should also be based on data”.
The federation filed the petition, which the Regional Trial Court Branch 73 in Sagay City, Negros Occidental granted. Specifically, the TRO was against DA’s order to import 200,000 metric tons of refined sugar.
Due to the court order, the Sugar Regulatory Administration temporarily halted the DA’s “Sugar Import Program.”
Another group, the Unified and the Rural Sugar Planters Association Inc. earlier expressed opposition of the said DA program.
Dar noted that based on consumption in 2020 and 2021, the average monthly refined sugar withdrawal is at 82,562 metric tons. The official said without importation, the country only has a balance of 54,355 metric tons.
He noted that the government is only importing “refined sugar” and that if there is no importation, the country’s sugar balance is less than the requirement for consumption
