Thailand must overhaul sugar industry to solve WTO problem, TDRI warns

By THE NATION

 

 

Planned changes to the Sugar Cane and Granulated Sugar Act will not solve Thailand’s problems at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) warned on Thursday.

 

The law is being amended after Brazil complained to the WTO in 2016 that Thailand’s subsidy measures had led to dumping of Thai sugar in foreign markets, violating WTO rules. The measures cited by Brazil include the sugarcane price guarantee scheme, soft loans to farmers, and the ethanol subsidy scheme, which uses molasses as a major ingredient.

 

Since 2018, Thailand’s Sugar Cane and Granulated Sugar Committee has issued five measures to regulate the sugar price, says Viroj Naranong, Health Economics and Agriculture Research director at TDRI.

 

“As a result, in almost three years, the price of sugar in domestic markets has drastically gone down, which has greatly affected the revenue of sugarcane farmers.”

 

A draft amendment proposed by government MPs to remove sugar subsidies would not solve Thailand’s dumping dispute at the WTO, warned Viroj. Nor would a proposal by opposition MPs and farmer associations to add molasses and other byproducts as factors in the sugarcane price calculation to increase domestic prices.

 

“These amendments may not solve the low sugar price problem as they do not focus on restructuring the sugar industry and profit-sharing scheme, which is the biggest challenge Thailand faces in trying to comply with WTO regulations.”

 

Instead, the domestic sugar price could be lifted by applying a price calculation formula that uses standardised criteria instead of different byproducts that might have no acceptable reference prices,” said Viroj.

 

“There should also be an independent fund for maintaining sugar price stability that has separate regulations and sources of money than the Sugar Cane and Granulated Sugar Fund.”

 

This should serve as emergency fund to compensate sugarcane farmers when necessary, he said. It could be supported by government budget or loans from state backed banks, he added.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30398625

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-11-27

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Alrighty!  Better get on it.....

It should be noted that Brazil bans the burning of sugar can by law.  In contrast, the Thai government produces an app telling the farmers when to buy the crop.

It is the rest of Thailand that is paying dearly for Thai sugar with high pollution and it effects on their health

Sounds like Sweet talk to me  ????   Pak wan!

3 hours ago, webfact said:

These amendments may not solve the low sugar price problem as they do not focus on restructuring the sugar industry and profit-sharing scheme, which is the biggest challenge Thailand faces in trying to comply with WTO regulations.”

They do not want to regulate or restructure the sugar industry. Instead more subsidies will be given to farmers and the glut of sugar will continue to drive the price down causing the farmers again to have less money for their product. A no win situation until they start to farm sugar sustainably and move to other crops. But, the farmers numbers have been increasing because of Covid and yet the government wants them to use better technology to grow crops thus again reducing the number employed. Can you say "Double Edged Sword" in Thai.

Funny how Thailand is a master of manipulation in crop prices yet seem to have no control over the Baht?

Market forces. If people.buy, it will sell. There will be a level at which a kilo of sugar is acceptable for people to buy.

 

with the Government's stated aim of reducing sugar consumption by 30% in 2022, sugar prices will tank. No one will buy. 

Sounds like some important people might be losing subsidy cash from government coffers....

3 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

Sounds like some important people might be losing subsidy cash from government coffers....

If demand drops possibly the price will fall, in which case Thais will be screaming for subsidies.. win-win.

Edited November 27, 20205 yr by hotchilli