The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) is open to any investigation that could be performed in reference to the excessive value of sugar in some areas, performing Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona stated Wednesday.
Interviewed on Unang Balita, Azcona defined that sugar costs go as excessive as P136/kilo in choose shops as retailers have been those who dictated the worth. He stated there are different manufacturers of sugar bought at decrease costs.
“Yes po. Actually, ‘yung price watch and monitoring of the SRP (suggested retail price) ay hindi na sa SRA ‘yun. Ibang agencies ‘yun sa gobyerno,” he said when asked if the SRA is amenable to any investigation on high sugar prices.
(Yes. Actually, the SRA has no control over the price watch and monitoring of the SRP. That is the job of other government agencies.)
“What we strive to do is to maintain the balance between the supply and our demand to protect the consumers na hindi bigyan ng rason ang negosyante na itaas na ang price dahil sapat ang suplay [by not giving traders reason to raise the price because the supply is sufficient],” he added.
“At the same time, very important, is to protect our farmers na ‘yung farmgate price na P60 ma-maintain din [that the farmgate price of P60 is maintained].”
Azcona said that the country’s inventory of refined sugar — each native and imported — is 132% higher than final 12 months. This, he stated, amassed to round 385,000 metric tons.
As for uncooked sugar, the inventory improved to 476,000 metric tons — about 18% to 19% higher than a 12 months earlier than.
Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday questioned the rise of sugar retail costs to P136/kilo, saying the commodity might be bought at solely P86 to P90/kilo.
“Bakit tumaas ang presyo sa halip na bumaba? Bakit may patong na P40 hanggang P60 na di maipaliwanag? Iyan ay resulta na patuloy na pag-corner ng tatlong importer sa suplay ng asukal sa bansa,” she stated.
(Why are the sugar costs going up as an alternative of down? Why is there an addition of P40 to P60 that can’t be defined? That is the results of the three importers persevering with to manage the nation’s sugar provide.)
The lawmaker stated retail worth management just isn’t the answer to the issue however dismantling the “cartel” that controls sugar provide.
“Baka sa halip na price control sa retail ay price monitoring at control sa wholesale ang dapat pagtuunan ng pansin ng pamahalaan, dahil sa wholesale price nakapagdi-dikta ang makapangyarihang kartel,” Hontiveros added.
(Instead of worth management in retail, perhaps the federal government ought to concentrate on worth monitoring and management in wholesale, as a result of the cartels might management the wholesale worth.) —KBK, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
