Millgate prices of "B" or domestic sugar held above P1,000 per Lkg on bidding yesterday allaying fears of sugar producers that the removal of the "C" or reserve allocation would cause it to fall.

Sugar Regulatory Administrator James Ledesma yesterday said prices stayed above P1,000 per Lkg for all sugar, "so there was really no cause for all that noise."

Ledesma had removed the "C" allocation late last month because of the tightness of the domestic sugar supply in the market that has caused millgate sugar prices to reach P1,030 per Lkg and above causing fears that this would cause retail sugar prices to go up.

Ledesma pointed out that his mandate is to ensure that prices stay reasonably profitable to producers and fair to consumers.

"It looks like James is right after all. The significant drop in expected production this crop year will maintain prices at P1,000 per bag even without the C," Francis Treñas, president of the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Inc., said yesterday.

"James must have seen figures that we did not see - a very realistic and significant drop in production this crop year," he said.

In Panay prices of B sugar yesterday ranged from P1,005 to 1,030.50 and A or US market sugar from P1,020 to 1,037.44, Treñas said.

Reynaldo Bantug, president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations, said "the P10 to P25 (per Lkg) decrease in most mills is a healthy correction considering there is no more C. The P5 increase (per Lkg) for VMC indicates strong demand for refined. Planters should be more than happy with today's bidding."

Enrique Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugar Producers, also said the prices of sugar were holding above P1,000 yesterday and he hopes the trend continues,

At Hawaiian Philippines in Silay City, A sugar sold at P1,036 and B at P1,048, while at Victorias "A" sold at P1,055 and B at P1,022, Rojas said.

Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines, who has called for Ledesma's resignation for failing to consult the producers on the removal of the "C" allocation, yesterday said his advise to the planters is not to sell their sugar below P1,000 per Lkg.

"This is all manipulation, they should go quedan financing," he said.*CPG

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