The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on Monday said sugar production for crop year 2024-2025 is poised to hit almost five percent higher than the initial estimate despite the effects of drought due to El Niño.
Figures showed that from the earlier forecast of 1.782 million metric tons (MT), sugar output could reach 1.837 million MT.
“We are currently at 1.815 million tons of sugar produced. Despite the low sugar produced per ton of cane, we attribute the production on the increase in sugarcane tonnage per hectare planted,” SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said in a statement here.
Azcona noted that the lower initial estimate was based on the health and assessment of the sugarcane after the extreme El Niño.
“We are ending on a positive note and we can also attribute this to the effort of this administration in helping stabilize prices since 2022,” he said.
“Fair farm gate prices encouraged farmers to risk replanting their El Niño damaged canes, using new SRA varieties. They were hopeful that prices would eventually make up for the very high cost of production. In fact, fair prices are also encouraging new farmers to plant sugarcane.”
SRA data showed the Visayas has the biggest share of the total production at 71 percent.
Negros Island alone accounts for 63 percent of the total produce while Panay contributes 6.3 percent, with the rest coming from the Cebu and Leyte plantations.
Mindanao, considered the next frontier for the sugar industry, is projected to end the crop year with almost 24 percent share, alongside Luzon with almost 5 percent of the total production.
“We hope next milling, we will get higher tonnage and, most importantly, more sugar per ton of cane (LkgTC),” Azcona said.
Currently, Mindanao has the highest average in terms of LkgTC at 1.74; Negros Island, 1.65; and Panay and Luzon, 1.54.
Azcona said the SRA’s thrust to prioritize research is “now paying off.”
Initiatives include the development and propagation of new sugarcane varieties, improving soil conditions, enhanced irrigation methods, and changing of sugarcane cropping calendar to better suit the climate. (PNA)
