Hanoi (VNA) - The Vietnam Sugar and Sugarcane Association has proposed to PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc not to allow an extension for temporary sugar importsfor re-export as the sweet industry is struggling with high stockpiles andslumping prices due to illegally imported sugar. This is in oppositionto a recent proposal by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the People’sCommittee of Lao Cai regarding the extension of temporary sugar import licenceswhich expired on December 31, 2017 to the end of 2019. In 2015, the Government allowed thetemporary import of 220,000 tonnes of sugar (mainly from Thailand) through certain border gates in Lao Cai province until the end of2017. However, a report by the province said that only 43.73 percent of thepermitted volume was imported and several companies temporarily imported sugarbut had not re-exported. For this reason, the ministry and the northern province calledfor an extension to the temporary import licences. However, the proposal is worrying forboth farmers and domestic sugar producers who were facing high stockpiles andplunging prices. The association proposed an inspectiongroup be set up to evaluate the temporary import and re-export of sugar via thenorthern provinceof Lao Cai. According to the association, sugar hadbeen in the 2018-19 harvest crop for nearly two months but the inventories atdomestic sugar plants from the previous crop still amounted to 200,000 tonnes. Domestic sugar producers faceddifficulties in sugar sales after the market was flooded with illegal sugarimported from Thailand, pushing down the domestic sugar price to around 11,000 VND -13,000VND, the association said. Some domestic plants were at risk ofshutting down. Pham Quoc Doanh, the association’schairman, said that if the temporary import of sugar was extended to 2019, thiswould kill the domestic industry. Doanh added that a large volume oftemporarily-imported sugar had not been re-exported, estimated at around 40,000tonnes. He estimated that the crop inventoriesmight amount to 500-700 tonnes. Dang Van Thanh, chairman of Thanh CongTay Ninh Sugar JSC., said that by 2025, more than half of the current 40domestic sugar plants might have to shut down. The association also proposed a fund beestablished to support the domestic sugar industry, according to Doanh. Inaddition, a sugar industry restructuring project should be approved togetherwith a law on sugar to ensure the legal framework for the development of theindustry, he added.-VNA