Hau GiangThe price of sugarcane in the Western raw material area decreased from 2,200-2,500 VND to 900-1,300 VND per kg, after three weeks when the largest sugar factory here stopped operating.
In the past few days, farmer Nguyen Van Buoi, 55 years old, in Tan Phuoc Hung commune, Phung Hiep district, has been very worried because sugarcane prices have dropped rapidly, but traders are still reluctant to buy.
Hau Giang farmers harvest sugarcane. Image: Peaceful
“In mid-October, traders went to the fields to buy sugar cane (to make soft drinks) at a price of 2,300-2,500 VND, but now it’s only 1,100-1,200 VND per kilogram. Meanwhile, some traders buy raw sugar cane. Raw materials to sell to the sugar factory in Tra Vinh range from 900-1,000 VND per kg, depending on the sugar (an index to determine sugarcane quality),” Mr. Buoi said, stating that his family still has 0.5 hectares of unharvested sugarcane. , yield is about 60 tons. At current prices, for each ton of sugarcane he loses more than one million VND in profit.
Many farmers in Phung Hiep district reported that for sugarcane fields that had deposited at high prices before, traders demanded a price reduction before harvesting or else they would give up the deposit (10-20 million for an output of 50 million VND). -100 tons). In some cases, drivers let people into people’s sugarcane fields to harvest part of the harvest and then leave. After that, there were hardly any buyers for these sugarcane fields, forcing farmers to reduce prices.
Mr. Tran Van Tuan, Head of the Agricultural Department of Phung Hiep district, Hau Giang province, said that in the 2024 crop year, the locality still has 3,100 hectares of sugarcane land (down nearly 3 times compared to 4 years ago), the largest in the West.
“Currently, the locality still has nearly 1,000 hectares of unharvested sugarcane, the price is falling sharply, people are losing a lot of profit,” Mr. Tuan said, adding that traders were simultaneously forced to work at the sugar factory in Phung Hiep (the largest in the region). West) with a capacity of 2,500 tons per day temporarily suspends operations in the 2023-2024 crop year, from October 25.
Sugarcane raw material area in Phung Hiep district, Hau Giang province. Image: Peaceful
Hau Giang province in the years 2010-2011 had the largest sugarcane area in the West with 15,000-16,000 hectares, concentrated mainly in Phung Hiep district and Vi Thanh city. The province has 3 large sugar factories operating at peak times in Long My Town, Vi Thanh City and Nga Bay City.
In the following years, sugarcane prices were low, farmers’ income was unstable, and the area of this crop gradually decreased. Currently, all three sugar factories are closed due to lack of raw materials.
The West had more than 50,000 hectares of sugarcane land in 2010, but now there are only about 15,000-16,000 hectares of this crop left. The entire region went from having 10 sugar factories operating to now only having 2 factories in Tra Vinh and Soc Trang.
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