The Sugar Regulatory (SRA) is working to determine the actual volume of sugar-based products or “other sugars” entering the country, believed to be affecting the demand for domestic sugar.
“The first thing we will do is we will try to require (those under) this tariff code an import clearance so we can monitor the actual volume. Once we have the actual volume, we will plan what to do next,” SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said in an interview here on Thursday.
He noted that “for the last 10 or so years,” a large volume of products labeled as “other sugars” have been coming into the Philippines.
“It is not considered as sugar. It is to the tune of 200,000 to 300,000 metric tons a year. Under this administration, I was mandated to look into it,” he said.
Under the tariff code 17.02 of the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature, only high fructose corn syrup is strictly regulated. This was after the sugar industry demanded that products using such sweeteners must be taxed higher after a decrease in sugar demand some eight years ago.
The entry of “other sugars” like glucose, sucrose, maltose, dextrose, maltodextrin, and lactose are not regulated.
“Right now, the government only earns income from ‘other sugars’ through value-added tax.
These are not taxed, like sugar; a very unfair advantage (against) the sugar industry,” Azcona said.
He added that these sugar-based products are being utilized by industrial users, particularly for food and beverage manufacturing.
The SRA chief said that one of the products, the “white sweet powder,” is composed of 88 percent bottler’s grade sugar and 12 percent glucose.
“In our rules, anything above 65 percent is considered sugar. It has not been given attention for a long, long time, and finally, we will act on it,” he said.
Earlier this week, a group of sugar planters, led by the United Sugar Producers Federation, met with Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. to raise concern about the “alarming volume of other sugars” entering the country in the last eight years, reaching 200,000 to 300,000 metric tons each year.
“The volume of sugar premixes represents about four million bags of sugar amounting to roughly PHP10 billion. The continued lack of regulation for these sugar-based products is highly detrimental to the sugar industry,” UNIFED president Manuel Lamata said in a statement. (PNA)
