The sugar industry has recorded a "revival"
Regarding the 2023/24 sugarcane production season, Mr. Nguyen Van Loc - Chairman of the Vietnam Sugarcane and Sugar Association - said that the Vietnamese sugarcane industry completed the 2023/2024 sugarcane pressing season in June 2024.
The output at the end of the season was 11,204,789 tons of sugarcane, producing 1,107,777 tons of sugar of all kinds. Compared to the 2022/2023 sugarcane pressing season, the sugarcane pressing output reached 117.9% and the sugar output reached 118.4%. Compared to the 2020/2021 sugarcane pressing season, in 4 consecutive seasons, the sugarcane pressing output increased by 166% and the sugar output increased by 161%.
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| Farmers in Quang Phu commune (Quang Dien, Thua Thien-Hue) take care of sugarcane. Photo: Ho Cau/VNA |
This shows that since Vietnam applied trade defense measures from 2021, the Vietnamese sugar industry has recorded a significant revival and growth, with the sugarcane purchase price continuously raised by the Vietnamese sugar industry for 5 consecutive crops (an increase of 152% compared to the 2019/20 crop), currently reaching 1.2-1.3 million VND/ton of sugarcane, which is equivalent to that of sugarcane producing countries in the region, leading to an increase in sugarcane planting area, sugarcane and sugar output increasing continuously over the last 4 production crops.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Loc, in terms of sugar productivity, with the growth rate of 4 consecutive crops, for the first time the Vietnamese sugar industry has reached the sugar productivity milestone of 6.79 tons of sugar/ha. Compared to the main sugar producing countries in the region including Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, the above achievement has for the first time put the Vietnamese sugar industry in the number 1 position in sugar productivity in the region.
There are still many difficulties
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Loc, in the 2023/2024 crop year, the world raw sugar price reached its peak in November 2023 at 28 USD cents/lb and then continuously decreased to the current level of 19 USD cents/lb (down 47%). The decrease in the international sugar market price has reduced the price of smuggled sugar, negatively affecting the domestic sugar market.
While Vietnam has seriously implemented its international commitments on sugar, the lack of seriousness of its partners in the region has had a negative impact, threatening the existence of the Vietnamese sugar industry. Typical examples include Indonesia's fraudulent declaration of origin and signs of dumping sugar into the Vietnamese market; or Thailand's continued implementation of the dual-price method to export excess sugar through Cambodia and Laos....
The boom in imports of liquid corn syrup HFCS with an import level of 231,000 tons to Vietnam in 2023. With a sweetness of 1.3 times to 1.6 times that of sugar, it has "eaten away" the market share of sugar in the beverage industry equivalent to 300,000 tons of sugar from the Vietnamese sugar industry.
In addition, there is an explosion of sugar smuggling in the 2023/24 crop year. Many acts of commercial fraud in smuggled sugar have been detected by authorities in almost all provinces and cities across the country. However, legal loopholes in the auction of confiscated sugar and lax control of labeling of goods and origin are being exploited by illegal traders, making the fight against commercial fraud in smuggled sugar still ineffective.
Under pressure from imported HFCS corn syrup and smuggled sugar, the sugar market is always in a state of oversupply, sugar produced from sugarcane is difficult to consume, threatening the existence of the sugarcane - sugar chain.
The price movements of Vietnamese sugar compared to neighboring countries in the 2023/24 crop year also show that Vietnamese sugar prices are always at the lowest level. Thus, in the 2023/24 crushing season, the Vietnamese sugar industry has achieved the dual goal of raising sugarcane purchase prices to levels equivalent to or higher than those of countries in the region while still keeping sugar prices at the lowest level.
Mr. Nguyen Van Loc said that in the 2024/2025 processing crop, it is expected that there will be 25 sugar factories operating, equal to the number of factories operating in the 2023/2024 crop, with a total designed capacity of 124,000 tons of sugarcane/day. According to the reports of the sugar factories expected to remain in operation, the production plan for the 2024/2025 crop will have growth compared to the 2023/2024 crop as follows: Harvested sugarcane area increases by 107%; Processed sugarcane output increases by 105%; Sugar output increases by 105%.
The 2024/2025 crop year is expected to be a challenging year for the Vietnamese sugar industry as it has to deal with the La Nina phenomenon expected to begin to have an impact during the crop year, rising prices of agricultural materials, the situation of smuggled sugar and trade fraud of smuggled sugar, the situation of evasion of trade defense measures and a narrowing sugar market due to increased imports of HFCS corn syrup.
Regarding some tasks that the sugar industry needs to focus on in the coming crop year and the following years, Mr. Nguyen Van Loc said that the sugar industry needs to strengthen and develop the chain of linkages in sugar production. Build a healthy and harmoniously developing sugar market. Prevent acts of sugar trade fraud. Stabilize sugarcane raw material areas in the context of climate change. Implement a sugarcane variety selection program.
In order for the Vietnamese sugar industry to successfully organize and implement the above Directive, in the context that some international commitments have not been strictly complied with by partners, many legal regulations in the management of sugar consumption have not been fully complied with and the sugar production chain is often under pressure from commercial fraud, Mr. Nguyen Van Loc said that it is very necessary to have the attention and support of state agencies in establishing a fair, reasonable competitive environment and fully complying with legal regulations as well as the state's development orientation.
Source: https://congthuong.vn/gia-mia-viet-nam-da-tuong-duong-voi-cac-nuoc-trong-khu-vuc-345606.html
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