Workers’ groups slam gov’t plan to export sugar amid price slump

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – Labor leaders on Wednesday, January 14, frowned upon the government’s announced plan to export 100,000 metric tons (MT) of locally produced sugar, criticizing it it as a move that could deepen the ongoing crisis in the sugar industry caused by plunging millgate prices.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday, January 12, announced that it approved the Sugar Regulatory Administration’s (SRA) plan to export 100,000 metric tons of raw sugar to the United States, following a 130,000-ton rise in local production. 

The move is said to be intended to reduce domestic supply and stabilize millgate prices, which have fallen to P2,000 per 50-kilo bag.

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“But where is the sugar order on this plan? This is hasty,” said Roland de la Cruz, president of the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (NACUSIP).

De la Cruz called for transparency, saying the government should give details about the volume, price, and other specifics.

“For us, this unclear announcement by the DA is just meant to appease the labor sector, which is terribly affected now by the present sugar crisis,” De la Cruz told Rappler.

The crisis has left a number hacienda owners in Negros Occidental unable to release the 13th-month pay for farm workers in December 2025. 

On Thursday, January 15, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is set to finalize compliance reports from local haciendas.

De la Cruz, who filed a complaint over the non-release of bonuses, warned that thousands of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) who ventured into sugar planting were also suffering due to the current slump.

“That’s why we are not happy with the so-called stop-gap measure – the sugar exportation – because we suspect it could be a ploy for import replenishment that will further worsen the crisis,” he said.

The sugar glut stemmed from over-importation. SRA’s Sugar Order No. 8, which took effect in September 2025, brought 424,000 MT of imported sugar into local markets just two weeks before the milling season, despite planters’ recommendation to limit imports to 150,000 MT.

With 270,000 MT of imported sugar currently in local markets, both the DA and SRA are struggling to sell domestic production at a price covering costs.

In a statement, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, whose family is involved in the sugar industry in Bukidnon and Negros Occidental, said the government should immediately intervene to help farmers cope with rising input costs and millgate prices below production costs. 

Zubiri called for the maximized use of the Sugar Development Fund (SDF) under the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) to provide visible support to struggling farmers.

Wennie Sancho, convener of the Sugar Industry Movement (SAVE-SIM), said their sector is facing its “hardest moment” and could collapse if sugar import liberalization continues.

De la Cruz said a congressional inquiry into the sugar crisis has been scheduled for January 23 at Nature’s Village in Talisay City, led by House agriculture committee chairman Mark Enverga and Senate agriculture committee chairman Francis Pangilinan.

“If the result of the inquiry will not satisfy us, we might as well call for the immediate resignation of all the people composing the Sugar Board and also of Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona,” De la Cruz said. “Only God knows what’s next for the labor sector once the crisis continues to persist in the next few months or a year due to sugar glut.” – Rappler.com