The Sugar Regulatory Administration said that there is no reason for sugar prices to go up since there is sufficient supply.

SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica said the sugar stock balance is at an all-time high of over 1.1 million metric tons and mill gate prices range between P1,450 and P1,550 for the past five months.

For this week, he noted that the average mill price is at P1,454, considered on the low side compared to sugar prices for the past five years.

"I have been going around inspecting sugar mills’ warehouses and traders’ warehouses and many of the imported sugar have not been used. In fact over 133,500 metric tons of imported have not been withdrawn from the warehouses," he said.

Serafica slammed those spreading rumors of increasing sugar prices.

He said they were just trying to manipulate the market so that they could raise their profits at the expense of the consumers and producers. DMS