SUGAR Regulatory Administration (SRA) Administrator Dave Alba on Tuesday said prices of sugar are expected to stabilize between P70 and P80 per kilo in November.

“The P70 to P80 is a good price hopefully by November, once all the imported refined sugar comes; you should see a stabilization in the prices,” Alba said, referring to the arrival of the 150,000 metric tons of imported sugar.

Based on monitoring of the Department of Agriculture on Tuesday, retail prices of refined sugar ranged from P90 to P105 per kilo.

“Regarding the 150,000 tons that we are importing, it’s clear in Sugar Order 2 that everything should arrive at the latest November 15. Everything should be here by November 15,” Alba said.

He added that the 150,000 metric tons of sugar imports are equivalent to 3 million bags.

At the same time, Alba said sugar stocks in some warehouses that had been raided were allowed to be released in the market.

“[Documented stocks from the raided warehouses] are already starting to go in the market,” he added.

Those with questionable paper, Alba said, are still being withheld at the Bureau of Customs.

The country has an inventory of 134,000 metric tons of raw sugar and 143,000 metric tons of refined sugar while the weekly demands for raw sugar and refined sugar are 6,222 metric tons and 6,899 metric tons, respectively.

SRA board member Pablo Luis Azcona said the farm gate price of raw sugar is at P38 per kilo.

“As a farmer and farmer representative, we want to make it clear from a farmer’s point of view, the highest price of raw sugar that we sold last year was P46 per kilo and we stopped selling last June. We averaged at around P38 per kilo. From the farmer, you have to make it to white sugar or refined, that’s the high price in the wet market. It’s the start of milling, supposedly the supply is a bit low. Once everybody mills in Negros already, because basically 60 percent of the supply comes from Negros, then the price will surely stabilize,” Azcona also said.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry backed a call of the local food manufacturers and exporters to allow the sector’s representation in the SRA to ensure that the voice of MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) is heard and considered.