Sugar industry of the Philippines

In 2005, the Philippines is the 9th largest sugar producer in the world and 2nd largest sugar producer among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, second to Thailand, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics Division. At least 17 provinces located in 8 regions of the Philippine archipelago have grown sugarcane crops, of which the two on Negros island account for half of the country’s total production. As of Crop Year 2009-2010, 29 mills are operational divided as follows: 6 mills on Luzon, 13 mills on Negros, 4 mills on Panay, 3 mills in Eastern Visayas and 3 mills on Mindanao.

Sugarcane is not a sensitive crop and can be grown in almost all types of soil, from sandy loams to clay loams and from acidic volcanic soils to calcareous sedimentary deposits. The harvest period is from October to December and ends in May.

The history of the sugar industry in the Philippines pre-dates pre-Spanish colonization. It is believed that early Arab traders brought from the Celebes cuttings of sugarcane and planted them in Mindanao. Later sugar were shipped north and planted in the Visayas and Luzon. By the time Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese crossed the Pacific and discovered for Spain the Philippine archipelago in 1521 sugarcane plantations were already extensive in many islands of the country, particularly in the Visayas.

Even though sugarcane was already grown in Visayan islands it became an industry only after 1850 when Nicholas Loney, a British Vice-Consul, was sent to Iloilo in 1856 and convinced the American house of Russell and Sturgis (also known as Russell & Co.) to open a branch in Iloilo for the purpose of giving crop loans to sugar planters. Through his firm, Loney and Kee Company, Loney’s importation of sugar cuttings from Sumatra and machinery from England and Scotland to Iloilo, which the sugar planters can buy on easy installments, facilitated the fast development of sugar industry in the island.

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