Operations against smuggled sugar reportedly being sold at retail outlets in Cebu and key cities of Mindanao are underway, Sugar Regulatory  Administrator Rafael Coscolluela said yesterday.

Coscolluela said the SRA has coordinated with the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group after getting reports from its intelligence people in the field.

Among the key cities in Mindanao where anti-smuggling operations are underway are Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga, he said.

So far, the SRA has seized 45,000 bags of smuggled sugar worth about P54 million this crop year, he said.

Negros Occidental sugar leaders have stressed the need to seize cheap imported smuggled sugar that drives down the price of   domestic sugar. 

Ideally it is best to seize imported smuggled sugar on arrival at Philippine ports, Coscolluela said, but if they manage to elude customs then SRA intelligence people track the sugar down to warehouses and retail outlets.

The trail depends on how effective our intelligence people are, he said.

The gains of the sugar anti-smuggling drive have been reflected in the increased withdrawals of domestic sugar in the last four weeks and in slightly increased or steady prices, he said.

We have reached a level of equilibrium between production and demand, Coscolluela said.

Meanwhile, he said the prolonged rains have caused the SRA estimate of this crop year’s production to slightly drop.

Our first estimate was 2.275 million metric tons and now it is 2.256 million MT, he said.

Because of the rains there is a delay in harvesting the sugarcane that then mature in the field and lose its purity, he said.

The estimate of this crop year’s production could drop a bit more and end up slightly the same as last year’s production of 2.23 million MT, Coscolluela said.

We are still doing our final rough estimate so we can really be more accurate, he said.*CPG

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