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Approval given for sugar import boost
An additional sugar import of 10,000 tonnes has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade had submitted the proposal for the additional import to help ease the domestic shortage, which has driven prices up recently.
The Viet Nam Milk Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), Coca-Cola Viet Nam and Nestle Viet Nam have been assigned to import this volume of sugar.
"As regulated, the import quota could not be fulfilled until 45 days after the announcement. However, this time will be shorter. We will immediately allow companies to import sugar from now to November 15 to solve current challenges with the price being so high," said Nguyen Bai Duong, a senior official of Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt Production.
Viet Nam has imported 101,000 tonnes of sugar since the beginning of this year.
In recent years, most imported sugar is from Thailand, according to a report from MARD.
The Viet Nam Sugarcane and Sugar Association predicts that the country can produce about 1.13 million tonnes of sugarcane in 2009-10, an increase of 13 per cent over the previous crop.
In the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, farmers are now starting to harvest sugarcane and produce sugar.
Sugar produced in this region can meet about 25 per cent of the total demand in the country.
"In this region, sugarcane is sold at nearly VND800,000 [US$44] per tonne, the highest level it’s ever been," said Ha Huu Phai, General Secretary of the association.
The sugarcane price in other regions is predicted to be around VND600,000 ($33) per tonne.
In the world market, the price of sugar has also been rising. It is now about $591 per tonne, nearly double the price in August 2008. The price of sugar in the domestic market has risen to about VND14,000 per kilo.
vietnamnews
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