BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Confederation of Sugar Producers Association (CONFED) is recommending the termination of the 7 percent allocation for the United States quota effective at the earliest possible time.
Confed president Raymond Montinola, in his letter to Sugar Regulatory Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica, said that most of their members have increased their cane tonnage this crop year, due to heavy rainfall that prevailed since December last year.
Sugar recovery, however, has dropped significantly compared to last year, leading SRA to revise its crop estimate for Crop Year 2020-2021, Montinola said.
He added that they also noted an increase in withdrawals of raw sugar and a drop in demand for refined as reflected in the supply and demand report of SRA dated February 28, 2021.
“In anticipation of a tightness in our domestic supply, we support SRA’s effort to review the current allocation formula, and as CONFED, we recommend termination of the 7 percent allocation for the U.S. quota effective at the earliest possible time,” Montinola said.
“This, we believe, would help relieve the tightness in our domestic market,” he added.
“In line with this recommendation, we also propose that SRA establish a deadline for verification and shipment to the U.S. market of all “A” sugar already quedanned,” Montinola also said.*
