Prices of sugar, other goods up

Based on the daily monitoring of the DA on Monday, the retail price of refined sugar ranged from P95 to P110 per kilo; washed sugar, P65 to P94 per kilo; and brown sugar, P70 to P90 per kilo PHOTO BY JOHN RYAN BALDEMOR 

THE retail prices of various agriculture products continue to increase as the cost of refined sugar soared to P110 per kilo despite the earlier projection of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) that the price of sweetener is expected to go down.

Based on the daily monitoring of the DA on Monday, the retail price of refined sugar ranged from P95 to P110 per kilo; washed sugar, P65 to P94 per kilo; and brown sugar, P70 to P90 per kilo.

The DA also reported an upward trend on various farm products. The retail price of amargoso was pegged between P100 and P150 per kilo; string beans, from P90 to P130 per kilo; pechay, P80 to P140 per kilo; eggplant, P80 to P100 per kilo; and tomatoes, 140 to P150 per kilo.

The retail price of red onions ranged from P190 to P250; carrots, P120 to P160 per kilo; Baguio beans, P120 to P140 per kilo; cabbage P70 to P100 per kilo; potatoes, P70 to P90 per kilo; sayote, P35 to P60 per kilo.

Based on the DA’s price watch, the retail prices of meat products have also increased as pork kasim was pegged between P270 and P350 per kilo; pork liempo, from P330 to P390 per kilo; whole chicken, P180 to P200 per kilo; beef rump, P410 to P460 per kilo, and beef brisket, P360 to P390 per kilo.

Earlier, acting SRA Administrator Dave Alba said that he expects the retail price of sugar to drop between P70 and P80 per kilo starting November with the arrival of the 150,000 metric tons of imported sugar and the start of the milling season.

DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban backed the statement of Alba, saying that the 3 million bags of imported sweetener and the local harvest will boost the sugar supply in various markets in the country, particularly in Metro Manila.

“We expect at least P70 to P80 per kilo of sugar starting November,” Panganiban said.

But based on the DA’s market monitoring, the retail price of sugar reached as high as P106 per kilo at the Marikina Public Market in Marikina City; P105 per kilo at Mega Q Mart in Quezon City; P110 per kilo at Muñoz Market in Quezon City; and P103 per kilo at Malabon Central Market in Malabon City.

An official of the SRA blamed the traders in the spike in the prices of sugar.

“The price is trader-influenced. At the moment, the farmgate price is about P85 per kilo for refined,” an official who requested anonymity said in a text message to The Manila Times.

On the other hand, Agriculture Undersecretary Kristine Evangelista confirmed that retail prices of vegetables have increased by at least P20 per kilo.