The great sugar mills in Shan State announced on 3 October that they will offer K120,000 per tonne of sugarcane in 2023-2024.
On 2 November, another sugar mill in Shan State offered K150,000 per tonne. However, some local sugar mills buy sugarcane at K110,000 per tonne. But the price range is between K110,000 and K150,000 per tonne.
The wholesale sugar price in the market on 1 November was K3,750/K3,780 per viss while K3,780-K3,820 on 6 November and K3,780-K3,800 on 10 November. Similarly, the brown slab-sugar price rose to K4,150 from K40,00 per viss.
Some sugar mills in Bago Region can crush only 1,500 and 2,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day and the ones in Shan State can grind 6,500/7,000 tonnes per day. The new sugar mill that is still under construction will crush up to 12,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day in 2025/2026.
A sugar mill in Sagaing Region produced 697,477 tonnes of sugarcane between 9 December 2022 and 17 March 2023. In 2023, the wholesale price of sugar rose to K3,800 per viss, and so the purchasing price of sugarcane was also up.
Some sugar mills offer high prices so the sugarcane farmers get good profits. One acre of sugarcane produces between 35 and 50 tonnes of sugarcane.
In November 2022, the sugarcane price was only K90,000 per tonne and so the price of November 2023 is about K50,000 higher than the same period of last year.
The wholesale price of sugar in November 2022 was K2,450/ K2,550 per viss while K2,700 for slab sugar. In early November 2023, it was K3,750/K3,770 per viss of sugar and K4,000 per viss of slab sugar, jaggery purchaser Ko Pyae Phyo told the GNLM.
One tonne of sugarcane can produce 30 buckets of sugarcane juice that also can produce about 60 visses of slab sugar. It can make over K200,000 for slab sugar according to market price in 2023.
The production cost of slab-sugar was about K100,000 per tonne while the sugarcane fetched K80,000 per tonne.
Therefore, when the slab sugar is about K4,000 per viss, it can make over K150,000 in producing slab sugar based on one tonne of sugarcane including the cost of sugarcane.
The sugarcane farmers can earn over K100,000 per tonne in the 2023 sugar mill season so they will make further profits.
In 2023, the sugarcane farmers get good prices that are about ten times higher than the prices of 2019 in which the sugarcane fetched K38,000 per tonne.
In 2019, the sugar price was about K900 per viss and now it is about four times higher in 2023. However, the dealing prices of some famous sugar mills are still three times, some suggested. — TWA/KTZH
