Senator Mar Roxas yesterday said the World Trade Organization negotiation process is gaining some momentum and a meeting set in India could disrupt the status quo on agricultural products' tariffs.

In the past, tariff reduction programs were implemented on manufactured goods but if agriculture is affected in this new round it will be a major challenge all over the country, particularly in Negros and its sugar industry, he said. Roxas said he will consult with Negros sugar leaders on how he can help them in addressing the tariff issue.

He said he was the only trade and industry secretary of the country who raised tariffs to protect the sugar industry.

With Sugar Regulatory Administrator James Ledesma, Roxas said he negotiated that the tariff on sugar entering the country be raised from 65 to 85 to protect the local sugar industry.

And, notwithstanding the ASEAN Free Trade Area, he negotiated with Thailand for the Philippines to keep its tariffs sugar, Roxas said.

This prevented cheap Thai sugar from entering the country at 0 percent, he said.

Meanwhile, Roxas said he remained optimistic about the future of bio-ethanol from sugarcane.

The pressure on oil is not going to disappear, so oil prices will remain quite high making the biofuels alternative attractive, he said.*CPG

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