The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters Inc. has urged Sugar Regulatory Administration chief James Ledesma to totally scrap the allocation of D (World Market) sugar by transferring it to C (Reserve) sugar.

NFSP, headed by Enrique Rojas, said in a letter to Ledesma that they are concerned over the reduced sugar production with the SRA crop estimate of 2.242 million metric tons at the start of the milling season. "If this trend continues, we will be lucky if we can reach 2.15 million metric tons based on our present crop estimate since all sugar areas have dropped in production except those in Mindanao," they told Ledesma.

NFSP said that, without the D sugar, the industry will have a better chance of achieving a composite price of P1,000 per Lkg. for A, B and C sugar allocations.

They said they are urging Ledesma to consider such a "remedial measure in the interest of sugar producers and workers." In October last year, Rojas said the Sugar Alliance asked that sugar for crop year 2006-2007 be allocated as follows: A (US quota) - 10 percent, B (Domestic Market) - 70 percent, C (Reserve) - 10 percent and D (World Market) - 10 percent.

But sugar leader Luis Mirasol then said a more equitable allocation would be 8 percent for A, 70 percent for B, 17 percent for C and 5 percent for D.*NLG

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