THE United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines (UNIFED) said on Wednesday that the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) needs to inspect sugar milling equipment after claims emerged that cane processed by the mills is yielding reduced sugar.
UNIFED President Manuel R. Lamata said mills have reported low sugar extraction from the crop, which he described as “strange.”
“We have had truckloads of cane which reportedly have zero LKGTC (50-kg bag raw sugar per ton of cane) as extracted by the mills, which makes us suspect that something strange is going on,” Mr. Lamata added.
The SRA had ordered the creation of teams to conduct random inspections to sample for the sucrose content of cane.
Sugar farmers have been claiming low to no LKGTC readings for their cane since the start of the milling season.
The higher-than-average dry conditions brough by El Niño has been blamed for a likely reduction of sugar output this year.
The SRA has estimated that sugar production during the 2024 to 2025 season will fall 7.2% to 1.78 million metric tons (MMT).
The regulator added that the prolonged dry spells has produced cane that is “physiologically immature,” resulting in a 16% reduction in sugar content per MT of cane.
According to UNIFED, sugarcane extraction of 1.44 LKGTC during the start of the current milling season, against an average of 1.7 LKGTC.
He said that the SRA should ensure milling equipment is calibrated to ensure that sugar growers are not shortchanged.
“Sugar groups were allowed before to have their own chemists in the mills to check the veracity of mills’ extractions, but this practice has been discontinued,” Mr. Lamata added. — Adrian H. Halili