President Marcos has ordered the importation of more than 64 metric tons of refined sugar in a bid to stabilize the price of sugar in the country.
In a memorandum order dated Dec. 20, Department of Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban ordered the convening of the department’s Minimum Access Volume Advisory Council to expedite the importation of 64,050 metric tons of refined sugar.
The memorandum was issued to Jocelyn A. Salvador, executive director of the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) Secretariat.
The memorandum cited the Latest Summary Inflation Report Consumer Price Index for November this year that was released early this month as the basis for the importation.
“Based on the latest Summary Inflation Report Consumer Price Index (2018=100): November 22 released on Dec. 6, 2022, the annual increment for sugars, confectionery and desserts, has reached 38.0 percent,” the memo read.
“Concerned with this very high inflation rate, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, has ordered the Department to take action and to stabilize sugar prices,” it added.
It stated that the importation should be through the MAV mechanism.
MAV refers to the volume of a specific agriculture product that is allowed to be imported with a lower rate of duty.
