According to the Vietnam Sugar Cane and Sugar Association, at least ten factories finished the production crop by May. Statistically, firms had consumed 12 million tons of sugarcane to make 1.1 million tons of sugar.
Price of sugarcane fluctuates between provinces in the Mekong delta. For instance, farmers in Ben Tre, Soc Trang provinces sold at VND800, VND820 per kilogram respectively while their peers in the north provinces sold at VND1,150 a kilogram.
The wholesale price of sugar is lowest within five recent years. For example, wholesale price of white sugar fluctuated from VND10,200- VND11,800 per kilogram while refined sugar was from VND13.500 to VND14,700 per kilogram.
Sugar price is near production price; therefore, manufacturers hardly have profit meantime smuggled sugar from Thailand into Vietnam was from VND10,500- VND10,800 lower than domestically-made sugar products; as a result, consumption of locally-made products is low.
Lately, three sugar manufacturers have shut down due to losses and failure in competition.
A manager from the Can Tho Sugar and Sugarcane Company today said that the government should have suitable policies and mechanism like in other Asian countries to help sugarcane farmers’ competition ability. These policies include sugarcane growing zoning, especially facilitating traffic and irrigation to help reduce cost.
