THE Department of Agriculture said that it will postpone sugar imports until the middle of 2025, noting that domestic supply is expected to be stable.

“Given the current situation… a decision on sugar imports can be delayed until after May, when the current harvest season ends,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said in a statement on Sunday.

He ruled out additional imports of refined sugar, saying stocks of raw and refined sugar remain adequate.

According to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), raw sugar stocks hit 216,641 metric tons (MT), while those of refined sugar amounted to 513,393 MT as of Oct. 13.

“We are just beginning our harvest season, so Secretary Laurel and I agree to delay the decision on sugar imports until after harvest sometime in May,” SRA Administrator Pablo Luis S. Azcona said.

The regulator had earlier allowed imports of 240,000 MT of refined sugar aimed at plugging supply gaps before the start of the current harvest.

He added that the current harvest started slowly, with total cane volume equivalent to a third of year-earlier volume.

“Farmers had to delay their harvests to allow the cane to mature further and increase sugar content,” Mr. Azcona said.

The SRA said prolonged dry spells due to El Niño caused the cane to be “physiologically immature,” resulting in a 16% lower sugar content per MT of sugarcane.

The US Department of Agriculture said Philippine raw sugar production is expected to decline 3.6% to 1.85 million metric tons (MMT) during the 2024-2025 crop year.

The SRA projects a 7.2% drop in sugar production from the 1.92 MMT reported during the previous crop year, citing crop damage sustained during the dry conditions brought about by El Niño.

The SRA said sugar production remained constrained by the weather phenomenon despite an increase in the land area planted to sugar to 389,461 hectares from 388,378 hectares in the previous crop year. — Adrian H. Halili