sugar cane 12av2

This was difficult becausetraders expected sugar prices from this year's crop would be higher than the previous one,he said.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, Vietnam exported 140,000 tons of sugar, not counting an additional 60,000tons via border trade from last year's crop which last from October 2000 until May thisyear.

Vietnam also imported tens of thousands of tons of crudesugar for refining and then re-export at the end of the crop to sustain local prices.

With a total designed capacity of 55,600 tons of sugarcaneper day, refineries in Vietnam need 8.3 million tons of materials this year. Meanwhile,148,184 hectares of sugarcanes only provide seven million tons of materials, still 1.3million tons shot, which makes competition in purchasing sugarcane more fierce this year.

Meanwhile, due to prolonged floods, sugar refineries inthe Mekong Delta started production some months earlier than other areas. Sugar refineriesin the Soc Trang, Can Tho, Kien Giang, Ca Mau and Ben Tre provinces started operationthree months ago.

Shortage of sugarcane materials forced these refineries tobuy sugarcane materials at VND250,000-VND300,000 per ton, VND200,000-VND220,000 higherthan in harvest time.

To avoid losses, executives of seven sugar refineriesdiscussed and agreed to reduce the purchase price of sugarcane by VND20,000 per ton."But refineries hardly observe their agreement," said a director.

"Sugar refineries will buy sugarcane materials at anyprice to sustain operations because any suspension, even for one day, will cost VND40-60millions to buy fuel for restarting the production line," said an expert.