Sugarcane price set to rise as local demand surge

A sugar mill in Shan State has been purchasing one tonne of sugarcane at a price of K120,000 starting 3 October and has also offered to buy 6,500/7,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day, according to a notice by the mill to the merchants and sugarcane farmers.
The sugar mill also encouraged farmers in the notice to grow more sugarcane as the mill is installing two more units with the aim of producing sugar by crushing 7,500 tonnes of sugarcane per day in 2024-2025 financial year and 12,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day in 2025-2026 FY.
Before 2021, when a viss of sugar wholesale price was K900, the mill purchases one tonne of sugarcane at around K38,000. Four years later, when a viss of sugar is priced at K3,800/3,820, the price for a tonne of sugarcane rose to K120,000.
The sugar price in global market in July was US$650 per tonne which was down from US$700 in June this year. Last year, a tonne of sugar at global market was around US$600. Sugarcane farmers earn more from their produce as the price of sugarcane increases with the increase of sugar price. — TWA/TH