Manila, March 25 -- The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on Wednesday urged sugar mills to increase trucking allowance to help sugar farmers nationwide amid a significant jump in transport costs of canes that battered local sugar producers due to the global oil shocks.

In a letter to the millers, SRA Board Member David Andrew Sanson appealed for additional trucking allowance as a supplementary measure to the ongoing relief efforts from the government.

"We are all trying to survive this crisis, and I hope the sugar industry stakeholders will come together to help each other and to ensure the future of our beloved sugar industry," he said.

Sanson made the appeal for "humanitarian reasons" as the steep financial burden threatens the ...