RP to import sugar amid price surges
25.01.10
Amidst reports that urbane sugar prices in some Metro Manila outlets had reached a merry of P60 a kilo, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has directed a programmed importation of up to 150,000 metric tons of sugar at zero assessment through the tax expenditure subsidy of the National Food Authority, a government clasp release said.
That aim of the move is to ensure sufficient buffer horses at the end of the sugar milling season, it added.
"We are waiting for the Official Order that will authorize NFA to undertake the sugar importation," Yap said.
He said the Sugar Regulatory Management will determine the eligible importers and the imported sugar will be allocated for industrial users, household consumers, institutional users and food processors, the meet release said.
"Customs Bonded Storehouse operators or food processors who are exporters of sugar-based products can also signify directly since they already enjoy a zero tariff on their importations under the Price-list and Customs Code," he added.
Source: Visayan Daily Star
Dean's Foods driving up milk prices?
25.01.10
Attorney Catholic Lisa Madigan joined the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Branch and attorneys general from Wisconsin and Michigan Jan. 22 in filing an antitrust lawsuit against Dean's Foods Co. which Deans' April 2009 possessions of Foremost Farms. The lawsuit alleges "that Dean Foods Co. purchased a smaller dairy convention in Wisconsin
Jan. 22 Associated Press story .
Dean's Foods and Prominent Farms are milk processors that purchase, pasteurize and package raw tap from dairy farms and agricultural cooperatives. Dean's and Best Farms distribute the processed dairy products to schools, grocery stores and other retail customers.
Dean's announced in a Jan. 22 constrain release that it is contesting the lawsuit because Dean's believes that "from the chance of the acquisition almost a year ago, this transaction has benefited Wisconsin dairy farmers by providing a unchanged and growing outlet for their milk. In addition, the transaction already has produced weighty cost savings that will benefit customers and spur game in and around Wisconsin."
Source: Chicago Tribune (blog)