DA official: Order to import sugar will manage inflation

The move to import around 450,000 metric tons of sugar by the Department of Agriculture (DA) is aimed at managing inflation and building a buffer stock that will adequately meet the country’s sugar requirements, a senior Agriculture official said on Wednesday. In a press briefing at

Malacañan Palace, DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said they acted on the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to immediately address inflation due to supply issues.

“In response to the directive of the President to address inflation and create a buffer stock and giv- en that sugar as one of the components of most commodities that drives the consistently high inflation rate, I acted with haste and interpreted the memorandum issued by the Office of the Executive Secretary as an approval to proceed with the importation,” Panganiban told the members of the Malacañang Press

Corps.

“With the urgency of the situation, I instructed three capable and accredited companies to proceed with the importation of sugar, provided that they agree to reduce the prices of sugar, sell the commodity in a price that is commercially acceptable in

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