BAGO CITY - The muscovado mills of Alter Trade Manufacturing Corp. in Brgy. Calumangan here are taking a respite until the milling season starts again in September.

But in one building of the millsite, the activity continues. Yesterday afternoon, the ATMC workers were busily packing certified organic muscovado sugar intended for export to France. France is just one of the European markets of the Alter Trade Mascobado sugar, processed and packed by the ATMC. The organic sugarcane comes from the Alter Trade Foundation Inc. communities in Negros Occidental, comprising 19 cooperatives.

"Mascobado" is an ATMC trade mark which means "mas" for people and "cobado" for sugar thus, the people's sugar.

Arnel Ligahon, ATMC assistant manager and quality control supervisor, said that, aside from France, Mascobado is also being exported to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria and Asian countries like Japan, Korea and Malaysia.

In the country, its buyer, Sharmila, distributes the Mascobado to various supermarkets in Metro Manila.

ATMC works with Alter Trade Corp., dubbed the people's trading arm, in finding markets for muscovado both in the Philippines and abroad.

ATMC has been processing muscovado at its two mills here since 1994, after leaving their first smaller millsite in San Enrique, to be able to meet the growing demand for the commodity.

Indeed, the Mascobado has gone a long way since then. When in 1994, ATMC only supplied 300 to 400 tons of muscovado yearly, now, at least for 2007, they have already a confirmed order of 1,800 tons.

In the first six months, ATMC has already exported 812.5 tons of Mascobado.

But Ligahon said that aside from their existing customers, numbering about a dozen, they have received inquiries from about 20 other groups in other countries.

In Switzerland, the Mascobado is used as ingredient in making chocolate while in France, buyer Alter Eco supplies it to manufacturers of body scrub.

ATMC is also processing muscovado rock, syrup and flakes.

Muscovado is popular for its health benefits. Because it's a certified organic product, it means that it has zero chemicals unlike brown and refined sugar.

But Ligahon said that despite these benefits, it is still a challenge to make the market price of muscovado competitive. In local supermarkets, the Mascobado is sold from P48 to P50 per kilo, while refined, only P30 to P32, and brown, P25 to P27.*NLG

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