THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) announced on Sunday the start of loading for the shipment of 25,300 metric tons (MT) of raw sugar to fulfill the country's sugar allocation quota to the United States as provided in Sugar Order (SO) 3.

The manual loading of the sugar supply from Negros Occidental began on Saturday, with 1,500 MT to be loaded daily for about 15 days to the cargo vessel Tate J docked at Bredco Port in the province.

"It will take about 15 days to load the shipment, provided we have good weather. It will take 30 days for the cargo to reach US soil," SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said in a statement.

"This will balance out the supply of raw sugar in the country when milling starts this September," he added.

SRA records showed about 30 sugar traders participated in the administration's call last year to buy domestic sugar to stabilize farmgate prices, which dropped to a low of P2,400 per bag of 50 kilograms.

In exchange, traders can import and export when needed.

They bought raw sugar at an average price of P2,700 per bag, and sold it at the US export price of only P1,800 per bag.

"We thank the traders who participated in the program even if they are exporting sugar now at an estimated loss of P900 to P1,200 per bag of sugar," Azcona said.

The opportunity to import refined sugar will give them a little profit to recoup their expenses, he added.

To hasten the loading of the US-bound sugar, the city government here granted the SRA an exemption from the truck ban, which is in effect 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.

This allows the uninterrupted loading of sugar within 15 days, or else the exporters will be charged additional fees for each day of delay, unless disruption of loading is weather-related.

"We also thank Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez for lifting the truck ban for sugar loaded trucks en route to the port," Azcona said.

SO 3 allows "the Philippines to fulfill its US quota allocation of 25,300 MT," the first export of sugar this year in order to participate in future import programs.

The Office of the US Trade Representative previously said the Philippines would be able to deliver an additional 145,235 MT raw value of raw cane sugar in 2025, covering the period Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025.