Sugar Regulatory Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista yesterday said more investors in the sugarcane industry are expected with the participation of the Department of Trade and Industry in the preparation of its 2014 to 2024 roadmap for development.

The DTI’s Board of Investments sponsored a Visayas Stakeholders Consultation on the sugarcane roadmap for 2014-2024 at the Planta Hotel in Bacolod City attended by industry stakeholders yesterday.

This is the first time that the DTI has gotten involved, which is significant because now the sugarcane industry will be included in its road shows for investors here and abroad, she said.

Many other local investors also see the prospects of the Philippine sugarcane industry and are also looking to invest, she said.

Despite the drop of the tariff on imported sugar entering the country to a nominal 5 percent next year with the ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement, Martin said she is very optimistic about the future of the country’s sugarcane industry.

The key here is for producers to be able to level up, she said.

Rafael Coscolluela, president of the Confederation of Sugarcane Producers Associations, who presented the proposed sugarcane roadmap at the consultation, said the vision is to have a fully integrated sugarcane industry by 2024 with highly efficient mills, 20 bioethanol distilleries supplying 20 percent of the country’s bioethanol mandate, sugar mills generating 500 megawatts of power and producing specialty sugar, bio water and bio plastics.

At present 423,000 hectares are planted to sugarcane in the country, 80 percent of which are farms that are 5 hectares and less, Coscolluela said.

There are now seven bio ethanol distilleries that have a 220 million liters capacity or 55 percent of the mandated market, he added.

There are so far five generating plants with installed capacity of 84 megawatts, he added.

To further boost the sugarcane industry, targeted for production aside from bio-power are bio-plastics, bio fertilizer, bio-water, bio-batteries, medicines and chemicals, he said.

Also eyed are sugarcane eco zones that could increase industry revenue from P87 billion to P100 billion, he added.

“The road map tells where the sugarcane industry is now, where we want to be, and how we want to get there,” he added.

We are consulting with the stakeholders to validate our strategies to determine if they are reasonable and achievable, Coscolluela said.*CPG

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