The Tiempo Suerte season, which traditionally ushers in fortune as the sugar milling begins in Negros, has turned bitter this year with prices plunging despite the start of operations in September.
Negros Occidental, the country’s top sugar-producing province, planters report that falling millgate prices have placed heavy pressure on both producers and laborers.
Ang Mangunguma, a federation of sugar planters in the province, reported that millgate prices slid to an average of P2,200 per 50-kilogram bag as of Thursday, October 9 — nearly P300 below the P2,500 standard cost of production — sending shockwaves across sugar-producing communities in the island.
The group said Victorias Milling Company (VMC), Asia’s biggest sugar refinery, offered P2,260 per LKG, while Binalbagan-Isabela Sugar Company (BISCOM) matched the same rate.
Lopez Sugar Central in Sagay City posted P2,257 per LKG, and Universal Robina Corporation (URC) mills in Kabankalan and La Carlota offered P2,270 and P2,251.72 per LKG, respectively.
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) earlier approved the importation of nearly half a million metric tons (MT) of refined sugar. Under Sugar Order No. 8, series of 2024–2025, the agency authorized the entry of 424,000 MT of refined sugar between July 15 and November 30, 2025.
Need explanation
Negros Occidental 5th District Representative Emilio Bernardino Yulo III called the situation “unacceptable.”
He plans to raise the issue in Congress next week, saying the SRA must explain why prices fell sharply barely a month into the milling season.
Yulo stressed that it is the SRA’s duty to keep balance between sugar producers and consumers. Allowing prices to drop below production cost, he said, “is a no-no.”
Negros Now Daily reported that SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said that the agency has no plans to import sugar at the present, as a response to the statement of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) on the alleged “excessive” sugar importation.
He explained that the approved importation will only take place after the current milling season ends, emphasizing that he and Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. agreed to delay any discussion of new imports until May or June 2026, when accurate production data become available.
Azcona said the SRA conducts all import programs through consultations and calibration to ensure balance between supply and demand.
He warned that premature speculation about sugar imports disrupts farmer confidence and drives market prices further down.
Importation as culprit?
Meanwhile, Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA), said that sugar importation continues to pull down domestic prices, citing sugar importation as the culprit.
Rappler quoted him as saying that local prices would not have fallen below production costs if imported supplies had not flooded the markets.
Sancho warned that the price slump could trigger job cuts across Negros, dimming hopes for a “merry Christmas” among sugar workers and their families.
In Himamaylan City, Vice Mayor Justin Gatuslao, a sugar planter for three years now, told Brigada News FM on Friday, October 10, that the city council plans to pass a resolution next week urging the national government to investigate the underlying causes of the price collapse.
He said the price decline has deeply affected both planters and laborers who rely on sugarcane farming for their livelihood.
Gatuslao pointed out the irony that as consumer prices in the market continue to rise, the value of raw products like sugar keeps falling, forcing planters to bear greater financial strain.
He expressed hope that the low prices would not persist for long, warning that a prolonged slump could create a serious problem for the industry.*
Reymund Titong is a Filipino journalist steadily building his voice in the field of news reporting, driven by a commitment to tell meaningful and relevant stories.
He serves as a correspondent for Rappler, maintains a personal blog on Medium, and is the communications officer of Hope Builders Organization Negros Island.