Philippines: Imee Marcos says sugar millgate prices dropped by almost 30% due to importation
Imee Marcos urged the Sugar Regulatory Administration to halt sugar imports, citing a ~30% drop in millgate prices hurting farmers despite adequate supply. She called for government procurement to stabilise prices, as concerns grow over continued imports and industry losses.
Senator Imee Marcos on Tuesday called on the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to halt the importation of sugar as local farmers continue to suffer from lower millgate prices.
According to Marcos, the millgate price of locally produced sugar has dropped by almost 30%, as the SRA allows imported sugar even though the country has a sufficient supply.
She said some farmers now lose P200 to P400 per bag of sugar, but the retail price of sugar in the market is not decreasing.
“May ani naman at ‘di kulang ang suplay, pero nag-import pa rin ang SRA? Aba, sino na naman ang nakinabang dito?” Marcos said in a statement.
(We have a harvest and there is no shortage of supply, but why is the SRA still importing? Who will benefit from this?)
“Tantanan na dapat ‘yang padalos-dalos na importasyon na walang basehan at direksyon. Ngayong panahon ng krisis, dapat mga magsasaka natin ang inuuna, hindi ang imported,” she added.
(We should stop hasty imports that have no basis and direction. In this time of crisis, our farmers should be the priority, not imported goods.)
Senator Marcos said the government should now buy sugar harvests to stabilize prices and prevent oversupply.
GMA News Online reached out to SRA for a comment and will update this story once it responds.
In October last year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said that no sugar importation would be implemented until the end of the first half of 2026 to address concerns of the local sugar industry.
In December 2025, the DA and the SRA said the moratorium on sugar importation, which would expire by the first half of 2026 or by the end of harvest season, could be further extended in an effort to prioritize locally produced sugar amid strong domestic raw sugar production.
A lawmaker from the House of Representatives also called out the SRA last month for allowing imported sugar to enter the country amid surplus stocks, saying the policy has resulted in P7.28 billion in losses for the sugar industry.
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Source : GMA News Online
