Cost of your caffeine, sugar fix to stay high on El Niño

BY NONIE REYES

Congress resumes its session next month,” Yamsuan said.

The Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council has included the bill among the priority measures of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

On top of modernizing the industry, the lawmaker noted that salt producers also need to expand their market linkages to be able to promote Philippine salt not only as a food flavoring, but also as a key element in various industries.

“Being an archipelagic country, we have a vast shoreline that can be utilized to produce salt. Sadly, instead of harnessing this natural advantage to develop the salt industry, our salt production has drastically declined and we have been importing 93 percent of our salt requirements for the past years.”

Under the Houseapproved measure, salt— whether unprocessed or processed—is classified as a basic agricultural product with all its necessary legal and regulatory implications.

HB 8278 creates the Philippine Salt Industry Development Council (PSIDC) which is tasked to formulate the Philippine Salt Industry Development Roadmap.

The roadmap outlines the short-, medium-, and long-term development plan to accelerate the modernization and industrialization of the salt industry.

Through the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the PSIDC will also put up new smallscale artisanal salt farms.

PSIDC will provide development funds, technical assistance, and equipment to salt farmers and the industry.

Program to protect livestock in areas near Mayon pushed

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

THE evacuation in areas affected by Mayon Volcano’s restiveness should consider, from the start, the need to find good shelter as well for the evacuee-families’ livestock, according to Senator Francis Tolentino.

Speaking in his weekly radio program, Tolentino pushed for an “adopt a livestock” program in various localities in the province of Albay amid the increasing restiveness of Mayon Volcano.

“‘Yung experience po naman namin noon sa Taal eruption…’yung mga kabayo, mga baka, ang ginawa po, in-adopt po ng iba’t ibang lugar [na safe pero malapit] kung saan sila pwedeng alagaan. Sila muna ang nagalaga—siguro, nag-usap na lang sila ng may-ari [ng hayop]) pagkatapos ng eruption kung may ire-reimburse kapag may kaunting nagastos,” said Tolentino.

The senator, under the Duterte administration, was the overall onsite point person during the aftermath of the 2018 Mayon and 2020 Taal eruptions.

Albay Governor Grex Lagman welcomed Tolentino’s recommendation for the “adopt a livestock” program as the provincial government will soon begin its evacuation for some 10,000 heads of livestock from the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ) of Mayon Volcano and will be placed in a separate evacuation center.

“Itong ‘adopt a livestock’ program ay bago po ito sa akin Magandang ideya po ito, Senator,” said Lagman, adding that the program is a good solution to avoid overcrowding the evacuation center.

Close to 10,600 residents of Albay residing inside the PDZ have already been evacuated, including around 5,000 people from Tolentino’s birthplace in the Municipality of Guinobatan.

The governor maintained that beyond the 6-kilometer PDZ is safe for all, including tourists.

Tolentino lauded the swift response of the Albay’s provincial government following its declaration of a state of calamity to ensure the safety not only of its residents but also the existing livestock in the province.

THERE’S an aisle of the grocery store where inflation is looking exceptionally sticky: indulgent treats. Think coffee, chocolates and your favorite snacks. Prices of soft commodities have soared this year because of supply constraints. The return of El Niño and prospects of hotter, drier weather in producing countries is now threatening to exacerbate tight supply.

In the United Kingdom, retailers are locking instant coffee jars in security cases to prevent theft. In Japan, one beverage giant suspended the sale of Tropicana orange juice because of a shortage. And in Germany, chocolate and biscuit makers complain of soaring sugar and cocoa costs.

It’s one corner of the commodities market, along with gold, bucking the deflationary trend even as the cost of food staples like bread and pasta eases. This week, robusta prices surged to the highest level since at least 2008, making it more expensive for buyers around the world to get a cheap brew.

Prices of soft commodities have been outperformers this year, surging about 24 percent while the broader agriculture index eased 3 percent weighed by falling wheat and corn prices. “Consumers will start to see the cost of bread and pasta falling as the prices of grains have come down, but the last thing to fall will be your sugar and coffee and sweets,” said Kona Haque, head of research at ED&F Man.

Robusta bean production is expected to fall by 5 percent in Brazil, while in Indonesia, the world’s second-biggest robusta exporter, output is projected to drop by 20 percent. That combined with shrinking stockpiles in Vietnam, the largest-robusta producer, is likely to keep prices elevated.

For already-suffering chocolate makers, the pain brought by an El Niño could also get worse.

Production of cocoa beans in West Africa—the largest growing region—may fall in the next season by as much as 8 percent on adverse weather, according to Fuad Mohammed Abubakar, head of Ghana Cocoa Marketing Company. Cocoa prices already surged to the highest in seven years this season following a disappointing harvest in top exporter Ivory Coast that worsened the global deficit.

But among breakfast items, orange juice has probably seen the highest price increase following a staggering supply shortage caused by disease and hurricane damage in US top producing state Florida. That led futures to rally to a 56year record, with little relief in sight.

“We don’t expect major supply increases, while demand could slowdown especially in lower-income segments of the population that cannot afford such high prices,” said Marcos Fava Neves, a researcher at University of Sao Paulo.

There are already signs the beverage industry is moving away from orange juice, with bottlers shifting to different fruits or blends. In Japan, it was Kirin Beverage Company Ltd, for example, that recently said it is temporarily suspending the sale of Tropicana orange juice, blaming the tight global supply.

While supermarket prices may not fall much soon, sales of sweet treats are expected to remain resilient as they are considered small luxuries people are unwilling to give up compared to big ticket purchases like a holiday or a new car, according to ED&F Man’s Haque.

“There is also the whole science about coffee, sugar and cocoa being fairly addictive,” she said, “based on that alone it means consumption will hold up well.”