Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The General Department of Vietnam Customs mustwork with ministries, sectors and localities to tackle sugar smuggling andsugar trade fraud, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.

The PM has requested ministries and localities work to solve difficulties andimprove the competitiveness of the sugar industry.

The department must also strictly control imports ofsugar for processing export products as well as the origin of imports tostabilise the domestic sugar market.

PM Phúc also asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade(MoIT) to work with relevant agencies to monitor and propose trade remedies forimported sugar products.

This ministry must establish a synchronised and accurate databaseon export, import and production to assist enterprises in dealingwith trade remedy lawsuits, he said.

It would have to propose management measures for trading sugarproducts and strengthen market management to reduce smuggling and trade fraudfor sugar and sweetener products.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was urged tocompile a decree promoting mechanisation and irrigation in sugarcane growingregions and prioritise capital for research of new sugarcane varieties anddevelopment of key sugarcane producing regions.

The Prime Minister has asked people's committees of localitiesproducing sugarcane and sugar to build concentrated sugarcane production areasand adopt policies encouraging mechanisation and improving sugarcane varietiesand production processes for higher productivity and quality, and lowersugarcane production costs.

Provinces need to encourage farmers that have inefficientsugarcane growing areas to switch to other trees, according to the PM’s request.

At the same time, the Vietnam Sugarcane and Sugar Association(VSSA) has also called on sugarcane production enterprisesto restructure and promote investment in science and technology to improvethe productivity and quality of sugarcane and operational efficiency andcompetitiveness of enterprises.

The association and local authorities should also promote ties between farmersand enterprises in production and consumption of sugarcane.

The association said Vietnam’s 2019-20 sugarcane crop ended in May2020 with an output of 7.4 million tonnes of sugarcane and the domesticsugarcane and sugar production industry produced nearly 770,000 tonnes ofsugar, reported Phap luat & Xa hoi (Lawand Society) newspaper.

Sugar demand is increasing domestically but imported sugar products stilldominate the market.

The price of domestically-produced sugar products ranges from 12,000-13,500VND per kilo depending on the quality of sugar. The prices are lower thanproduction costs but cannot compete with the prices of imported sugar productsunder quotas of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) with zero importtariffs.

In addition, smuggled Thai sugar has returned to HCM City, according tothe association.

The association has also predicted the domestic market will havehigh sugar supply in next months and sugar prices still stand at low levels,leading to more difficulties for sugar enterprises and farmers./.