 |
China to Sell Sugar Reserves to Curb Price Hike
China is to sell part of its sugar reserves to push down surging prices on the domestic market. The State Development Planning Commission announced today that the government will sell the sugar reserves at an open auction on the Beijing sugar market soon.
All domestic enterprises and foreign trade companies that are allowed to process and trade in sugar will be eligible to apply for a bid at the auction.
The commission said that the move is designed to ease a shortage of sugar supplies caused by frost strikes in sugar production bases in south China last winter and reduced area of sugar crops this year.
According to statistics, the price of granulated sugar has reached 4,000 yuan (481.9 U.S. dollars) per ton in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the largest sugar producer in China, from around 3,000 yuan at beginning of this year.
An official from the China Sugar Industry Association said that despite the expected short supply of one million tons of sugar at the domestic market, China does not need to import sugar this year.
He hopes that the sales of state reserves will push the prices down to around 3,500 yuan (421.7 U.S. dollars) per ton, the current price level on the international market.
China closed down 149 small sugar refineries last year and reduced the area of sugar crops by 200,000 hectares this year to cut redundant sugar production capacity and improve the profitability of sugar companies.
In This Section
|