The Sugar Regulatory Administration yesterday admitted that the Customs Bonded Warehouse agencies had imported 55,016 metric tons of sugar, mostly colored or with flavoring.

SRA chief James Ledesma scotched reports that 250,000 metric tons had been bought by Filipino importers as claimed by a Thai sugarman. These figures are permissible importations which the SRA had authorized. Actually, they are below the 80,000 metric tons usually brought in by CBWs which are authorized by law provided they are also used for exported finished products, Ledesma said.

Based on the Thai customs update, the following was the breakdown: cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose, in solid form, cane sugar, 1,425 MTs; containing added flavouring or colouring matter, 5,000 MTs; white other, 36,036 MTs; white cubes sugar, 250 MTs; and others, 12,305 MTs.*RLE

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