Monday, October 25, 2010

Southern province drives to solve sugar cane shortage

Hau Giang Province People's Committee vice chairman Tran Thanh Lap spoke to reporter about measures to ensure cane supplies for sugar refineries.

Sugar prices are often high because refineries have to scramble to find cane to process. What measures has Hau Giang Province taken to solve the problem?

Some factories were discovered using young sugarcane to produce sugar prior to this year's sugarcane harvest, which fell on September 24.

To prevent a recurrence of this situation, the province has decided to allow some sugar refineries in the neighbouring provinces of Soc Trang, Kien Giang and Tra Vinh to come here to buy cane.

These factories will be required to register with provincial authorities. In exchange, sugar refineries in Hau Giang Province will also be able to buy cane from Soc Trang or other provinces in the Cuu Long (Mekong) delta.

The price of sugar is expected to gradually stabilise as a result.

Do sugar refineries in Hau Giang Province have their own sugarcane crops?


The province has planted 15,000ha of cane this year which is enough to produce sufficient input materials for all three sugar refineries here in one crop.

But these factories do not have the capacity to refine all 15,000ha of cane within one month and half of its harvest. For this reason, the province will need to sell cane to sugar refineries in neighbouring provinces.

As I already said, sugar refineries in Hau Giang Province will also register to buy cane from Kien Giang, Soc Trang and Ca Mau provinces where farmers usually harvest the product between the end of October and early November.

Why doesn't the province rotate the planting of sugar cane to avoid overstock at any one point in time?

Farmers in Vi Thanh District and a part of Long My District have already started doing so, although their sugarcane growing areas remain small.

People in the province typically plant the crop after the rice harvest so the cane harvest usually lasts from September to October.

It is still popular among farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) delta to plant old varieties of cane which has resulted in ineffective production and low sugar reserves. Has the province helped farmers improve its cane seedlings?


To improve old cane varieties, the Can Tho Cane and Sugarcane Joint Stock Company established a centre for cane development. The centre has provided some new cane varieties to farmers by offering partial subsidies.

At present, 40 per cent of the cane growing areas are planted with new varieties. Average productivity is between 120 tonnes and 150 tonnes per hectare. With an average harvest of 120 tonnes per hectare farmers can expect to earn between VND60 million and VND70 million (US$3,000-3,500) in profit. 

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