Cushion Middle East crisis impact on sugar industry, government urgedThe Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc. said the Department of Agriculture should “take up the cudgels for the agriculture sector” and implement the “purchase-and-park” sugar buying program proposed by the Confed. MANILA, Philippines — The government has been asked to cushion the impact of the Middle East crisis on the local sugar industry by providing sugarcane farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries fertilizer assistance and other subsidies. The Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc. said the Department of Agriculture should “take up the cudgels for the agriculture sector” and implement the “purchase-and-park” sugar buying program proposed by the Confed. He said he is willing to join a technical working group that will draft the implementing rules of the sugar buying program. During a meeting with Valderrama and National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines president Roland dela Cruz, Sugar Regulatory Administration chief Pablo Luis Azcona agreed to endorse the buying program being pushed by the Confed and NACUSIP.

Source: Philippine Star March 07, 2026 20:37 UTC