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China's Sugar Price Should be Stabilized: Experts
The surging price of sugar in China, if not moderated, may sour the industry that is struggling to get out of the red, experts warn.
China's white granulated sugar price has reached a record high, with per-ton price in its largest producer, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, jumping from 1,850 yuan last year to 4,000 yuan this year, today's China Daily quoted Jiang Tiansheng, president of the Guangxi Sugar Industry Corp, as saying.
The price is higher than on the global market. A ton of raw sugar was posted at between 210 to 235 U.S. dollars, the Daily cited the New York sugar price list published on Wednesday.
Although China's efforts to cap annual sugar production at 7.5 million tons leaves a shortfall of 1 million tons, China does not need to import sugar this year because it has sufficient reserves, said Lian Xuezhi of the China Sugar Association.
"If China sent a signal that it would import sugar, the international price might rocket by a margin of 100 U.S. dollars a ton," Jiang said, also a senior expert of the sugar industry.
China has 539 sugar refineries with a total annual production capacity of 10.53 million tons.
As a result of oversupply, the sugar industry has reported poor results over the past four years, with a cumulative loss approaching 10 billion yuan.
To reverse this situation, China has shut down 301 small sugar refineries since last year, which helped reduce the 1999-2000 sugar production by 2.01 million tons to 6.81 million tons.
"If the current irrationally high price of sugar is not curbed, the procurement price for sugar cane and sugar beets will rise, and some small sugar refineries that have been shut down may be tempted to resume operation, Jiang said.
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