The Philippines can sell an extra 100,000 tonnes of sugar to the United States this crop year, a government official said on Thursday, despite the possibility of a steeper-than-expected drop in 2011/12 output. The US Department of Agriculture has initially set an import quota 144,901 tonnes raw value (MTRV) unit for the Philippines for the current crop year ending August 31.
The import quota allocation for the Philippines in the 2010/11 crop year was 224,549 MTRV. "We learned that April 1 is the earliest time that the US will be able to answer if there is any additional quota allocation for the Philippines," said Regina Bautista-Martin, administrator of state agency Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).
"We are open to an additional 100,000-tonne allocation." The Philippines' raw sugar output may be cut further due to a decline in cane tonnage caused by frequent and heavy rains linked to the La Nina phenomenon, Bautista-Martin told Reuters at the sidelines of a food exporters' event. But she said the country's ample stocks would allow additional exports.
In December, the SRA lowered its forecast for 2011/12 domestic raw sugar output by 7 percent to 2.24 million tonnes. "We're still looking at 2.24 million tonnes, but there are reports from sugar mills that the decline in cane harvest per hectare may be as much as 25 percent," Bautista-Martin said. She said SRA's current output forecast was based on a 20-percent drop in cane harvest per hectare.
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