MANILA - The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has increased import clearance fees for High Fructose Corn Syrup in an effort to curb the use of artificial sweeteners.

From the P1.50 fee per equivalent bag of sugar, they raised it back to P30. SRA used to charge P30 per bag in early 2017 but was lowered to P1.50/bag.

SRA administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said the increase of import clearance fees for HFCS was "unanimously passed by the Sugar Board last month and forms part of Sugar Order 4."

The issue of artificial sweeteners was raised by United Federation of Sugar Producers President Manuel Lamata along with other sugar leaders in Luzon and Mindanao to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel in early August.

"While the collection of data on the use of artificial sweeteners is ongoing, we discovered this and decided to immediately raise the SRA fees for HFCS," Azcona said.

Azcona said another SO is being drafted based on the August 6 meeting between Laurel and other sugar stakeholders, millers, refiners, farmers, where UNIFED  raised the alarm on the entry of "other sugars" or Tariff code HS1702.  

"This entails requiring importers of items under HS1702 to secure an import clearance from SRA and this has been under board discussion since August," Azcona said.