CNI News
20 August 2022
Sugar mills are offering farmers about MMK 80,000 for one ton of sugar cane in the 2022-2023 sugar cane harvesting season, according to sugar cane farmers.
The current sugar cane prices are beneficial for both farmers and mill owners, Vice Chairman U Win Htay of the Myanmar Sugar and Cane Related Products Association, told the CNI.
“Sugar cane prices have hit MMK 80,000 per ton. They are advance reference prices for the 2022-2023 sugar cane harvesting season. As farmers got as much as MMK 68,000 per ton last years, they expanded sugar cane cultivation. New sugar mills were also built in some regions like northern Shan State. So, farmers expanded sugar cane cultivation. Sugar cane prices at MMK 80,000 is profitable. The advance prices are for sugar cane farmer cultivated last year. However, prices are likely to rise further in the upcoming season because of the rising diesel prices. Current prices are beneficial for both farmers and millers.”
Sugar cane reference prices were set at about MMK 60,000 last year.
Millers are offering higher prices for sugar cane to encourage farmers to expand sugar cane cultivation amids rising sugar prices and increasing costs for inputs of farmers.
A pile of sugar cane.
U Maung Swe, a sugar cane farmer from Sagaing Region, told the CNI, “It is profitable for farmers. Farmers can make a profit of about MMK 30,000 per ton after deducting transportation charges even as diesel is very expensive.”
According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture, sugar cane is cultivated on about 400,000 acres of land in the country but the actual acreage may be higher.
Some farmers are cultivating sugar cane in forest land and if the Forest Department abandons the land and gives farmers rights to work the land, sugar cane cultivation will expand in Myanmar, U Win Htay told the CNI.
He said, “In fact, forest authorities should abandon some forest land to some farmers who have been cultivating sugar cane for about 15 to 20 years for the development of the sugar industry. If forest authorities can do so, farmers will be able to apply for Form-7, which will enable them to get agricultural loans. There are many farmers who cultivate sugar cane on forest land in the entire country including Sagaing Region, Shan State and Bago Region.”
The current reference prices set for sugar cane cultivated in 2021 is profitable for farmers, they should be offered higher prices in the upcoming harvesting season due to increased cultivation costs incurred by rising prices of fertilizers, pesticides and fuel oil, according to sugar cane farmers.
