AN industry group is opposing the proposal of the Ethanol Producers Association of the Philippines (EPAP) to import molasses as the country has sufficient supply of the feedstock.
The United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) on Wednesday reiterated its “strong opposition” to the importation of molasses during the Bioethanol Consultative Board (BCB) virtual meeting last Tuesday.
“This move by EPAP was thumbed down by members of the BCB last month, yet they found ways to raise the issue up through the House Committee on Energy, chaired by Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo,” Unifed President Manuel Lamata said in a statement.
Lamata welcomed the position of the BCB to stand pat on its decision to oppose the purchase of imported molasses. The BCB’s position will be adopted by the Sugar Regulatory Administration and will be submitted to the Department of Energy and to Arroyo, according to Unifed.
Unifed said EPAP asked Arroyo’s help for the reconsideration of the National Biofuel Board “to allow the importation of molasses equivalent to the deficit in the supply volume of the locally-produced molasses.”
However, Unifed maintained during the BCB meeting that the country has sufficient supply of molasses at more than 270,000 metric tons (MT), which can be purchased by ethanol producers.
The group also said current sugar crop year 2020-2021 data showed that molasses supply reached 1.3 million metric tons (MMT) while demand was only at 1.098 MMT.
“We are already reeling from the effects of Covid-19 and we need to embrace the thrust of the national government to buy local as our way to help boost the economy, and here is EPAP pushing for importation again,” Lamata said.
“They [EPAP] should support the local industry. If storage is their problem, EPAP should invest in building large storage tanks where they can keep their local molasses during the milling season.”
In their letter to Arroyo, EPAP said the country has a molasses deficit of about 440,000 MT to 673,000 MT per year, based on sugar crop year 2019-2020 data.
Members of the BCB include representatives from six sugar federations, EPAP, the Philippine Sugar Millers Association, the Philippine Independent Millers Association, the Philippine Sugar Technologists Association and the Department of Agriculture.