CNI News
7 November 2023
Due to the demand for sugar cane at present, Mya Bayin Taung Lay Lone Sugar Mill in Shwe Nyaung Town, southern Shan State is buying a ton of sugar cane at 1.5 million kyats, according to the Myanmar Sugar and Cane Related Products Association.
Although the price of sugar cane was expected to be 110,000 to 130,000 kyats per ton this year, due to the increased demand for sugarcane from the sugar mill in southern Shan State, sugarcanes are being bought at a higher price.
As sugarcane cultivation is low and corn cultivation is high in southern Shan State at present, in order to increase the cultivation of sugarcane, the price of sugarcane was raised, U Maung Swe, a sugarcane grower, told CNI News.
While seeing a sugar mill
" The number of people who grow sugarcane in southern Shan State has decreased. Their sugar mill is in need of sugarcane. Only if the price of sugarcane is raised, will farmers be interested in growing sugarcane. The yield of sugarcane is low. So, the mill has raised the price to make farmers want to grow more sugarcane. The mill adjusted the price of corn and increased the price of sugarcane." said U Maung Swe.
There are 17,000 acres of sugarcane cultivation in southern Shan State and largely it is grown in Nyaung Shwe, Lawksawk, Shwe Nyaung and Taunggyi. However, corn that is more profitable than sugarcane and can be exported is grown more.
Because the cost for inputs such as fertilizer, pesticide and fuel has been more expensive, the current price of sugarcane is reasonable, said sugarcane farmers.
However, sugar mills would not buy sugarcane at the price Mya Bayin Sugar Mill has offered because the prices have been designated under a cooperative farming system between sugar mills and farmers, U Win Htay, vice chairman of the Myanmar Sugar and Cane Related Products Association, told CNI News.
While seeing sugarcanes
" Why the Mya Bayin Taung Lay Lone Sugar Mill is buying the sugarcane at a higher price is because they want sugarcane. At the same time, the price of sugar is going up. The price of sugar can go up anymore. For example, their mill can crush 1,500 tons of sugarcane a day, but they can get 1,000 tons. So, they need 500 tons of sugarcane. But other mills might not pay this price. We estimate other mills will pay up to 130,000 kyats per ton. Other mills have signed the contract at what price and how much they will buy. Many farmers and mills are going with a contract farming type. Because this mill is weak in contract farming. There are many people who make sugarcane jaggery around the mill. As the mill wants more sugarcane, it's buying sugarcane at a higher price of kind." he said.
The sugar mills in Sagaing, Mandalay and Bago Regions have designated the price of sugarcane 120,000 kyats per ton and farmers are expecting 130,000 kyats and above per ton.
Currently, world sugar price is going up and so is local price, therefore sugar mills will raise the price as farmers have expected, according to the Myanmar Sugar and Cane Related Products Association.
