Myanmar Sugar Forum 2019 was held in Nay Pyi Taw for the sustainable development of Myanmar sugar industry

For the sustainable development for Myanmar Sugar Industry, Myanmar Sugar Forum 2019 was held in Nay Pyi Taw on Wednesday.

Vice President U Henry Van Thio, Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Dr. Aung Thu, departmental officials and personnel from the related fields attended the forum. At the forum, the Vice President stressed to expand sugarcane cultivation to support the needs of local foodstuff industry, producing high-quality and value added sugar products, and seeking markets for export through the trade agreement. He also called for providing support to develop sugarcane cultivation for the socio-economic life of the growers.

Deputy Director General, Department of Agriculture, Zaw Htun Myint said “For the sugar industry development, there is a little bit challenge like the high of production cost because of power consumption. If the production cost can be reduced, the growers will get good price. This forum intends to harmonize the sugarcane production and sugar market with good results by short-term and long-term solutions.” 

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Myanmar has 23 Advanced Sugar Factories and 129 small and medium sugar mills. There are 63 sugar-based alcoholic factories and 56 sugar-based beverage and snack factories. Roughly, 100-tons of sugarcane are produced from over 450,000 acres. The sugarcane industry stands as a large Agrobased Industry, creating over 410,000 job opportunities to people. 

Member, Myanmar Rice Federation, Hla Moe said “The sugar price is down compared to the previous years. The factories can’t pay the price as the previous year to the growers. I heard from the attendees of this forum, the sugarcane price is not stable this year. This is because the sugarcane market is not good now for the exports, resulting in a huge pile-up of sugar in the local market.”

One of the attendees said the forum would help to find out ways for solving the problems facing at their work field as well as for the growers.

Chairman, Myanmar Sugar & Cane Related Products Association, Soe Linn said “We can hear the difficulties of the cane growers and sugar producers here and we can reveal the needs of the department too.”

Myanmar is an agricultural country, and the agriculture sector is the backbone of its economy. The agriculture sector contributes to 37.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), accounts for 25 to 30 percent of total export earnings and employs 70 percent of the labor force. 

(Myanmar International TV Channel: https://www.myanmaritv.com/news/sugar-forum-2019-sustainable-development-myanmar-sugar-industry )

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