HCM City (VNA) - Sugarproducers, distributors and consumers discussed production and consumption in2015-16 and forecasts for the next season at a recent seminar in HCM City.

Pham Quoc Doanh, Chairman of the VietnamSugarcane and Sugar Association, said sugar output in the 2015-16 crop was 1.23million tonnes, a year-on-year fall of 12.7 percent.

Together with 185,000 tonnes of imports,this fully met domestic demand that had been forecast by the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade, he said.

Prices would not fluctuate much from nowthrough the Lunar New Year on January 28, he said.

Many sugar mills had signed long-termcontracts with beverage production companies and fulfilled them.

But in general there is still no commonvoice between producers and traders and the companies they supply in terms ofprices, he said.

Sugar prices depend much on sugarcaneprices and global sugar prices, but with production done over six months tosupply for the whole year, output and prices are often volatile, he said.

Sugar traders and food and beverageproducers abhor this volatility, he said.

Representatives of Coca-Cola Vietnam and TanHiep Phat said the association and sugar plants should ensure steady prices.

They also said the sugar producers shouldinvest more in packaging, saying the packing should be done in bigger bags insteadof the current 50kg bags to reduce loading and unloading costs.

Nguyen Thi Thu Sa, General Director of ThanhThanh Cong Trading JSC, said sugar quality has improved significantly.

“Our RE (refined extra) already met qualitystandards, the newly produced RS (refined standards) sugar is very good, but bythe end of the season the latter’s colour and moisture change much. Sugarproducers must work to improve this.”

She and several others said they shouldalso work out clear plans to ensure steady supply whether prices are rising orfalling.

Many suggested that the Government shouldkeep a close eye on sugar imported ostensibly for re-export since it is soldsurreptitiously in the domestic market, and prevent smuggling in to protect thedomestic industry.

Chairman Doanh said the association hassuggested to the Government that it should organise the auctions for sugarimport quotas in the first quarter instead of the third quarter and only allowimport of raw sugar to safeguard local jobs.

The association said enterprises thatfailed to utilise their import permits should not be allowed to use them later.

Doanh quoted the International SugarOrganisation as saying that in 2016-17 the global sugar market would face ashortage of 6.2 million tonnes and inventories would shrink to their lowestlevels since 2010-11.

Global sugar prices would remain high, hesaid.-VNA