Sugar Refining at CADP in Full Swing

October 30, 1998 PSE CIRCULAR FOR BROKERS NO. 2484-98 Sugar Refining at CADP in Full Swing Central Azucarera Don Pedro issued a statement to reassure the general public, consumers and industrial users that refining operations to process sugar imports forwarded to its Nasugbu, Batangas plant is going on at full capacity and full time at three shifts. The company was selected by sugar importers to process about 100,000 metric tons of the 200,000 metric tons that have been approved for importation by the Government in the wake of the sugar shortage. Cdphil "We are doing everything we can to alleviate the supply situation and hopefully help bring this important commodity to the trade channels and to final consumers," CADP president and chief operating officer Miguel Gaspar said. Production, he continued, has been averaging more than 850 metric tons of 17,000 bags daily. CADP explained that importers have been delivering their raw sugar allocations to its Batangas refinery and immediately pick them up after processing for wholesale and retail distribution. It expects to process 33,000 MT for another 31 days, which represents the remainder of 100,000 MT it has been assigned to process. It has so far produced 54,000 MT since it began accepting delivery of the raw sugar. CADP is processing the raw sugar imports into refined sugar under a fixed fee or contract arrangement, and does not have control over selling prices of the commodity. Sugar importers selected the company to process the bulk of the imports because of its proximity to Metro Manila and the CALABARZON (the area with the highest concentration of consumers). It is also near the port of Batangas where shipments can be received and coursed through to the refinery at the least cost and time. LexLib Gaspar also clarified that CADP's plant and three other refineries based in the Visayas were identified to process the 200,000 MT imports because they were the only ones ready to undertake refining at the time the import shipments were made. Sugar milling and refining facilities, he added, generally close operations after the milling season sometime June for off-season repairs and maintenance work. CADP'S sugar refinery is one of the newest, largest and most modern in the industry. Its refinery was completed and commenced operation in 1994. In crop year 1996-97, it produced 3.9 million bags of refined sugar. However, because of significantly lower cane production, refined sugar output of CADP is expected to go down in the recently concluded crop year 1997-98. Gaspar pointed out that late plantings due to the El Nino phenomenon, as well as the rains in September and October, pushed back cane harvesting and milling operations around the country that compounded the supply shortfalls. He said that the sugar supply situation could improve in the coming weeks because some sugar millers have already begun operations.