The Sugar Regulatory Administration has decided not to adopt an advance swapping program or revise its allocation of sugar for the remaining months of the Crop Year 2012-13, SRA Administrator Regina Bautista-Martin said yesterday.

This decision came about after the Sugar Board meeting on Thursday where it was shown that sugar production may be better than expected, Martin added.

“We are at the tail end of the milling period. And records from our regulation department showed that from the start of this crop year our production and demand of sugar, both raw and refined, have been consistently up from last year's”, she said.

Sugar Production Highlights of SRA show that , as of week ending April 14, raw sugar production is 2.295 million metric tons, higher by 13.83 percent from April 2012 production of 2.016 million metric tons, she pointed out.

With this development, the Sugar Board also decided to adjust its sugar production estimate for the crop year from the initial estimate of 2.356 million metric tons to 2.434 million metric tons, Martin said.

"This latest production figure is still within range of SRA's crop estimate for the year”, she said.

Refined sugar production is also up by 10.78 percent, from last year's 775,523 metric tons to 859,131 metric tons by weekending April 14, she added.

“With healthy production figures, the SRA Board decided not to adopt any advance swapping or sugar conversion program for the remaining months of the crop year”, Martin also said.

This means that the US Quota sugar must be shipped and the allocation for the world market must also be exported. With the United States' General System of Preferences set to expire in July 31, 2013, there is more reason to hasten the shipment of US quota sugar to avail of duty-free entry of Philippine raw sugar into the US, she added.*

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