Cultivation costs rise, purchase prices fall: Myanmar sugar industry under dual pressure

Source: mmgpmedia.com A sugarcane farmer reported that they can now only continue cultivation with very limited expectations. According to this farmer, in the previous season, the purchase price of sugarcane at the factory was around 180,000-200,000 kyat/ton, equivalent to about 86-95 USD/ton. In the current season, this price has dropped to 150,000-170,000 kyat/ton, corresponding to about 71-81 USD/ton. Meanwhile, production costs and the prices of agricultural supplies have continuously increased, making the current purchase price insufficient to cover costs, leading to the situation of "the more you plant, the greater the loss." It was found that the Naypyidaw region used to be a large-scale sugarcane growing area, with many sugar factories operating, thanks to which the economic life of sugarcane farmers was relatively stable. However, in recent years, along with the transfer of state-owned sugar factories to private management, the purchase price of sugarcane has fluctuated ...