Packaging machine at a KCP Vietnam Industries sugar factory, an Indian-owned company in Phu Yen Province. (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Sugar
producers, distributors and consumers discussed production and consumption in
2015-16 and forecasts for the next season at a recent seminar in HCM City.
Pham Quoc Doanh, Chairman of the Vietnam
Sugarcane and Sugar Association, said sugar output in the 2015-16 crop was 1.23
million tonnes, a year-on-year fall of 12.7 percent.
Together with 185,000 tonnes of imports,
this fully met domestic demand that had been forecast by the Ministry of
Industry and Trade, he said.
Prices would not fluctuate much from now
through the Lunar New Year on January 28, he said.
Many sugar mills had signed long-term
contracts with beverage production companies and fulfilled them.
But in general there is still no common
voice between producers and traders and the companies they supply in terms of
prices, he said.
Sugar prices depend much on sugarcane
prices and global sugar prices, but with production done over six months to
supply for the whole year, output and prices are often volatile, he said.
Sugar traders and food and beverage
producers abhor this volatility, he said.
Representatives of Coca-Cola Vietnam and Tan
Hiep Phat said the association and sugar plants should ensure steady prices.
They also said the sugar producers should
invest more in packaging, saying the packing should be done in bigger bags instead
of the current 50kg bags to reduce loading and unloading costs.
Nguyen Thi Thu Sa, General Director of Thanh
Thanh Cong Trading JSC, said sugar quality has improved significantly.
“Our RE (refined extra) already met quality
standards, the newly produced RS (refined standards) sugar is very good, but by
the end of the season the latter’s colour and moisture change much. Sugar
producers must work to improve this.”
She and several others said they should
also work out clear plans to ensure steady supply whether prices are rising or
falling.
Many suggested that the Government should
keep a close eye on sugar imported ostensibly for re-export since it is sold
surreptitiously in the domestic market, and prevent smuggling in to protect the
domestic industry.
Chairman Doanh said the association has
suggested to the Government that it should organise the auctions for sugar
import quotas in the first quarter instead of the third quarter and only allow
import of raw sugar to safeguard local jobs.
The association said enterprises that
failed to utilise their import permits should not be allowed to use them later.
Doanh quoted the International Sugar
Organisation as saying that in 2016-17 the global sugar market would face a
shortage of 6.2 million tonnes and inventories would shrink to their lowest
levels since 2010-11.
Global sugar prices would remain high, he
said.-VNA