The Philippine Sugar Cartel That Won't Die
Import permits, phantom warehouses, and a price floor that costs Filipino families ₱40 billion a year.
Sweet Deals
The price of a kilo of sugar in Manila is roughly double the world benchmark. That gap is not weather. It is policy.
The players
The Sugar Regulatory Administration controls import quotas. A small cluster of trader-millers control the allocations. Members of Congress from sugar-producing districts control the SRA.
The mechanism
Import permits are auctioned in ways that reward incumbents. "Emergency" imports arrive after prices have already spiked, capturing the margin. Warehouse audits, when they happen, find phantom stock.
The cost
A 2024 PIDS working paper estimates Filipino households pay ₱38–42 billion in excess grocery costs annually because of the arrangement. That is roughly the cost of the entire national feeding program.
Reform has been promised by every administration since Ramos. None has delivered.
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