Sugar plants scramble for materials in Mekong Delta

Sugar plants have jostled for sugar canes while farmers have been very glad with bumper crops and high prices in the Mekong Delta.

That was the first time sugar cane farmers enjoy double win, bumper crop and high prices, said Nguyen Van Dong, director of Hau Giang Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In Phung Hiep District, half of 8,300 hectares has been harvested. Local officials and farmers reported that the weather was advantageous for the plant cultivation this year, bringing bumper crop. Meanwhile, traders have streamed into the district and paid high, 1,000-1,2000 a kilogram, for the canes.

Pham Van Quoc from Hiep Hung Commune said he had harvested 1.4 hectares of sugar canes and was had for nearly VND1,200 per kilogram, profiting him VND140 million (US$7,000), highest ever in recent decades.

In Soc Trang and Tra Vinh provinces, traders also paid from VND1,000-1,100 a kilogram, yielding farmers an average of VND50-70 million per hectare.

Uneasy factories

In contrary to farmers’ happiness, sugar plants in Phung Hiep District expresses concern as a host of bussinesses out of the An Giang Province have jostled for materials.

Nguyen Hoang Ngoan, deputy director of Phung Hiep sugar plant, said that the district farmers have so far harvested about 10,000 tons of the canes with 50% of them being sold to plants from other provinces for higher prices.

Vietnam Sugar Cane and Sugar Association said that ten sugar plants in the delta have processed 15,000 tons of sugar canes, a shortage of 8,000 tons to meet their capacity.

One of reason for the plants to race for sugar canes is that the sugar retail prices have skyrocketed to VND20,000-22,000 a kilogram while the world prices remained high at 700-750 a ton.-Saigongiaiphong

Tags: Vietnam sugar, Vietnam sugar output 2010