ByJim Lloyd Dongiapon
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Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI), issued a media release to confirm that the current shortage of bottler’s grade or premium refined sugar, which is used to produce soft drinks, has affected the production of several of their plants in the country.
“CCBPI confirms that the supply shortage of Bottler’s Grade sugar has affected the capability of some of our bottling plants to continue producing some products,” the company said in a statement.
They, however, did not disclose which of their plants had temporarily stopped operations.
It could be recalled that earlier this week, their production plant in Ulas, Davao City posted a tarpaulin announcing a temporary halt in their operations due to a shortage of bottler’s grade sugar brought upon by the ongoing sugar crisis in the country. The photos of which even became a trending topic in social media.
But less than a day after they made their announcement, the Ulas plant resumed regular operations, and the tarpaulin they had placed over their property was taken down.
Meanwhile, CCBPI has already assured its customers in their previous media release that they “are in the midst of implementing various efforts aimed at cushioning the business impact of the lack of premium refined sugar supply.”
“We are also continuing to work with the government and the broader sugar industry sector to arrive at a sustainable solution for the benefit of the small retailers who also rely on [the] product’s availability for their livelihood,” they added.
CCBPI had opened up during their meeting with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. that the soft drink industry needs at least 450,000 metric tons (MT) of premium refined sugar in order to meet customers’ demands and run at full capacity for the remainder of the current year.
This, the company said, is amid the 400,000 MT shortage of premium refined sugar on top of the 200,000 starting gap in the local supply for 2022, based on the projected demand of 2.3 million MT of sugar in the entire country for the current year.