By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD CITY – The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has increased the import clearance fee for High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) to PHP30 per equivalent bag of sugar in an effort to curb the use of artificial sweeteners.
In a press statement on Friday, the SRA said it originally charged companies PHP30 per bag of HFCS in early 2017, but this was lowered a month later to PHP1.50 per bag, which may have contributed to the stagnation in demand for domestic sugar in recent years.
SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said the decision to raise the HFCS import fee was unanimously passed by the Sugar Board last month as part of Sugar Order 4.
The issue of artificial sweeteners was raised by United Federation of Sugar Producers (UNIFED) President Manuel Lamata and other sugar leaders from Luzon and Mindanao during a meeting with Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel in early August.
Following that meeting and orders from the Department of Agriculture (DA), “the SRA immediately acted on the concern. Thus, while collecting data on the use of artificial sweeteners, we discovered this and decided to raise the SRA fees for HFCS,” Azcona said.
Additionally, a new sugar order is being drafted based on the August 6 meeting between Laurel and various stakeholders, including millers, refiners, and farmers, where UNIFED raised concerns about the entry of “other sugars” under Tariff Code HS1702.
“This will require importers of items under HS1702 to secure import clearance from the SRA, and this has been under board discussion since August,” Azcona said.
He also noted that a similar letter was sent to Laurel by the Sugar Council and NACUSIP this week.
“We welcome the fact that more stakeholders are expressing concern and supporting the alarms initially raised by other sugar federations,” he added.
The estimated volume of imports under HS1702 is around 200,000 tons, much higher than previously thought.
The SRA continues to verify data, which indicates that this issue may have been ongoing for the past decade.
“This will give us a clearer view of whether these other sugars have contributed to the decline in sugar demand over the past few years,” Azcona said.
Despite the challenges, Azcona emphasized that it is a positive sign that all sectors are united in addressing an issue that could be detrimental to the sugar industry.
He encouraged continued collaboration to resolve any future concerns.
