Vietnam's sugar industry has flourished.

Farmers in Ia Pa district, Gia Lai province harvest sugarcane in the 2023-2024 crop year - Photo: NL

According to the Vietnam Sugarcane and Sugarcane Association, the total sugarcane growing area nationwide in the 2023-2024 crop year will reach nearly 175,000 hectares, with sugar yield reaching 6.79 tons/ha for the first time. Notably, the selling price of sugarcane to farmers has increased to an unprecedented high, reaching nearly 1.3 million VND/ton.

Farmers sell sugarcane at highest price ever

In Phu Yen, one of the key sugarcane provinces with nearly 25,000 hectares and four factories, farmers like Mr. Nguyen Xuan Sang are delighted with record high sugarcane prices. "If the harvested sugarcane reaches 10 sugar content, it costs 1.2 - 1.3 million VND/ton. Not to mention other costs, such as clean, beautiful, even sugarcane, the factory buys more than 1.3 million VND/ton," Mr. Sang shared.

The same situation is happening in other sugarcane growing areas in the Central and Central Highlands regions. In Gia Lai, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ly (Ia Pa district) said her family earned about 68 million VND/ha from 4ha of sugarcane this crop year, with the selling price increasing from 1 million VND/ton to 1.2 million VND/ton.

Assessing that Vietnam's sugarcane is at a level equal to and higher than other countries in the region, according to a representative of AgriS Gia Lai Agricultural Joint Stock Company (Ayun Pa town, Gia Lai), businesses are purchasing sugarcane from people at a high level, because sugarcane growers have linked up with sugar factories; are supported with high-quality sugarcane varieties, giving good yields. In fact, there are sugarcane fields that yield 130 - 140 tons/ha, 10 - 15 tons/ha higher than the previous crop.

Mr. Cao Anh Duong, director of the Vietnam Sugarcane Research Institute (SRI), added that the reason for the increase in sugarcane productivity was due to favorable weather conditions, while Thailand, a competitor, was affected by the very severe El Nino.

"In addition, the effectiveness from 2021 with the decision to impose trade defense tax on imported sugar to protect domestic sugar is also a big reason," Mr. Duong emphasized.

Protect the sugarcane chain

Although the sugar industry is making significant progress, there are still many challenges that need to be addressed to ensure sustainable development. One of the outstanding issues is protecting the sugar production chain and ensuring fair benefits between farmers and businesses.

In some localities such as Cao Bang, Ha Giang and Tay Ninh, farmers are tending to sell sugarcane to traders for export to China due to price differences.

Cao Bang Sugarcane Joint Stock Company said that in the 2023-2024 crop year, over 30,000 tons of sugarcane, accounting for more than 20% of the total raw sugarcane output of the whole region, were officially exported to China. This situation is expected to become more serious in the 2024-2025 crop year.

"Traders are setting up purchasing stations throughout the region. Although there are many preventive measures, the core is the lack of clear regulations to protect the sugarcane production chain.

"The fact that private traders do not invest, are not granted planning for growing areas, but organize to compete for purchasing for export affects the interests of investors, creates an unfair competitive environment, causes disruption in the area, and breaks the production chain," the representative of this company shared.

Mr. Cao Anh Duong said that sugarcane prices in China are 1.5 - 2 times higher and that they control smuggled sugar well and give the green light to Vietnamese sugarcane. If Vietnam buys 1.2 million VND/ton, China buys up to 1.8 million VND/ton.

Therefore, Mr. Cao Anh Duong emphasized the need to create fairness in the chain. "It is clear that the chain between farmers and factories is very easy to break. The story here is that farmers cannot sell to anyone other than the factory, the buyer is the factory that decides the price, the quality of sugar content is also decided by the factory. The seller has no right to negotiate," he said.

To solve this problem, Mr. Duong proposed that there should be close supervision from the Government, relevant ministries and local authorities on sugarcane prices. He also noted that although Vietnam's sugarcane cultivation techniques and processes are not inferior to Thailand's, Vietnam's sugar content is always 2-3 letters lower due to the lack of an independent agency to analyze sugar content.

Challenges from imported liquid sugar

Vietnam's sugar industry is facing a new challenge: the boom in imports of high-fructose corn syrup. According to the Vietnam Sugarcane and Sugar Association, in 2023, about 230,000 tons of this liquid sugar were imported into Vietnam, occupying a significant market share in the beverage industry.

To combat this, the association proposes a 10% tax on sugary drinks and a 20% tax on drinks containing HFCS liquid corn syrup.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nganh-mia-duong-viet-nam-da-khoi-sac-20240928092826188.htm