THE retail price of refined sugar in local markets has reached P100 a kilo, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Thursday.

Refined sugar is being sold for as high as P100 a kilo at Muñoz Market and Mega Q Mart in Quezon City, Pasay City Market in Pasay City, and Malabon Central Market in Malabon City, the DA said.

In an interview with The Manila Times, Agriculture Undersecretary Kristine Evangelista blamed the rise on the tight sugar supply.

Evangelista confirmed the statement of Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA)

Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica that the country’s sugar supply will last only until August Q9.

“I will meet with Administrator Serafica to discuss the results of his meeting with the stakeholders,” Evangelista told The Times.

The retail price of refined sugar has almost doubled this year, from P57 a kilo to P60 a kilo in February.

In an earlier radio interview, Serafica underscored the need to import more sugar to fill up the shortfall.

“Definitely we need to import. That is the instruction of the President,” Serafica said.

“We urged the public not to resort to panic buying. If you are using three spoons of sugar in your coffee, maybe you can decrease it to only half a teaspoon,” he said.

Serafica added that the SRA expects more supply of sugar from Negros provinces.

Evangelista said the DA may reclassify the sugar allocated for industrial use to household consumption.

“We will determine if we can reclassify the available supply for household consumption to boost the supply in the local market,” he said.

The DA will endorse to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. the consensus that will be reached during the meeting with the stakeholders, Evangelista said.

The country’s sugar production is estimated at Q.8 million metric tons (MT), while demand for the past three crop years has been around 2.03 million MT.

The SRA attributed the shortfall to the “residual effects of Typhoon ‘Odette,’ continuous rain and overcast skies dampening the growth and sugar content of sugarcane.”