By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief Pablo Azcona said the agency is looking into the reported plunge in sugar millgate prices.

“I was informed that trading of sugar went below the P3,000 mark that we had forecasted,” Azcona said in a statement sent to media outfits here.

He said that two mills had prices a little below P3,000 but some went as low as P2,550 to P2,700 which was a bit surprising.

Azcona said that the “SRA is now looking into what could have caused price depression during trading last week.”

He further said that “since February we have maintained prices at a comfortable level of P3,000 which is equivalent to P60/kilogram at farmgate raw price and P85/kilogram refined in retail price in Metro Manila.”

Azcona said he had been pushing for the P3,000 price adding that “I feel it is the fair market price and this has been echoed by the administration as well as an incentive for farmers to plant more and be more sustainable.”

“Definitely none of the farmers want the low price so we will focus our investigation among the mills, traders and importers to see if there is some abnormality in their dealings but rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this”

“Someone is definitely making a scenario and we will not take this sitting down,” Azcona further said.