00:00The Congress wants to investigate the manipulation of traders in the price of sugar.
00:07This is supported by the Sugar Regulatory Administration,
00:11especially when it is being lost by many farmers.
00:14Bernadette Rey has the story.
00:20According to the Sugar Regulatory Administration,
00:23the supply of sugar is sufficient this Christmas,
00:26so the price should not go up.
00:28The price of sugar varies from Php 65 to Php 85 per kilo of red sugar,
00:33and Php 90 per kilo of white sugar.
00:35The problem is that the price of farm gate is falling
00:38because the farmers are losing money.
00:40Because sugarcane farmers are being sold,
00:43the price of farm gate is only Php 2,400 per sack,
00:47according to the SRA.
00:49At this price, the farmers are losing money,
00:53or they are just getting their income back.
00:55This is the buyers of the farmer sugar.
00:58This is the beginning of the supply chain.
01:00The first buyers, when the milk comes out, that's our problem.
01:06Wholesale and retail are constant.
01:08So the gap from wholesale to farm gate is just getting bigger.
01:12According to the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines,
01:16there are traders who are manipulating the price.
01:19Traders will force the buyers to buy sugar at a low price
01:23to increase the price, so the buyers will also be affected.
01:27The sugar mills, they have huge bodegas.
01:30They can give the sugars and starve the market artificially
01:35so that when the price goes up, come January, February,
01:39the price will go up because there is no sugar in the market.
01:43That is when they will unload the cheap sugar that they bought from us and make money.
01:48In the privileged speech of Negros Occidental 5th District Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo,
01:53he said that it should be investigated and that people who should take care of the farmers
01:59and the farmers who are being manipulated should be held accountable.
02:02The SRA supported the investigation for this.
02:05We welcome any form of help, be it an investigation,
02:10in the effort of giving our farmers a better price,
02:15giving our farmers a better chance,
02:18because if not, these farmers will shift to other crops,
02:22so our problem will be bigger.
02:24For GMA Integrated News, Bernadette Reyes, Nakatuto, 24 Hours.
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