Philippine Department of Trade and Industry found 310,000 bags of imported sugar in Jiamei warehouse

The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Friday found about 350,000 bags of sugar, mostly imported, inside three warehouses in the town of Silang in the province of Cavite.

After a preliminary count, the authorities said that 314,000 bags of sugar in the warehouse were imported from Thailand, while 36,000 bags were local and all bags of refined sugar were identified for industrial use.

According to the documents submitted by the warehouse representative, the imported sugar was cleared in accordance with the No. 3 sugar industry order, which is also the sugar import document approved by the country a few months ago.

It is reported that the three warehouses are rented by a sugar trading company to provide refined sugar for various food manufacturers.

The Philippine Ministry of Agriculture said that the relevant documents of imported sugar still need to be verified.

Meanwhile, Philippine Deputy Minister of Agriculture Federico Lasiste, Jr. "One of our questions about the warehouse is why local sugar is provided for industrial use, which means that there will be less supply for local consumers," he said."

Last week, the Philippine Customs Service found about 44,000 bags of suspected smuggled sugar, estimated to be worth 0.22 billion pesos, in warehouses in Pampanga and Bulacan.

In another operation that week, the Customs Service seized 140 000 bags of white refined sugar in the port of Subic, for a total tax of 45.6 million pesos.

Malakanyan said earlier that it was investigating the possibility of an "artificial" sugar shortage in the country in light of the findings of a recent warehouse inspection.