Sugar Rationing In Thailand, Max 2kg/person

[Xonax]

There are no sugar cane shortage in Thailand. But there is a political decision to use the sugar cane for the production of Gasohol fuel, instead of producing sugar to be consumed. Gasohol fuel is produced by adding alcohol produced from sugar cane to the gasoline.

[wimpy]

Edit: ^ I think we posted at the same time.

Is this shortage partially due to the increased manufacture of ethanol for burning in automobiles?

Edited March 7, 2010 by wimpy

[mythBuster]

How curious ASTV is mentioned as a news source. Is this serious??

[tooninthai]

Wut about us boyz who likes dah Brown sugah?

Wot? People here eat that 'orrible white refined stuff? Yuk!

And the family just traded their mango land for sugar land. Well done !

Edited March 7, 2010 by tooninthai

[geriatrickid]

To add to Xonax's observation, the situation is even odder when taken in the context that North American food processors are switching to sugar over corn syrup because sugar costs less now. The US market has seen corn shifted to ethanol production, which in turn is going to hurt the cattle industry since the Americans rely on corn as a feed stock. No problem in the 2 other big beef exporting regions of Australia and Canada since feed grain is usually barley in western Canada and barley/sorghum in Australia. The point being that diversification of supply protects a nation. What the heck were the folks in the ministry of Agriculture doing over the past year?

It really is odd that there is a sugar "shortage" in Thailand, as supplies are plentiful in the world market. It's stories like this that suggest that Thaialand is sitting on a ticking time bomb and it's not political. Rather, it is the state of food supply and agriculture. With the coming water shortage and expected drought this year, it is going to be difficult for farmers to make a living let alone bring in the necessary crops that keep everyone fed and happy. If there are shortages or disruptions in the food supply, this would create civil unrest far more frightening than anything the Reds/Yellows could dream of. It is going to be a rough year for some of the most important and needed people in Thailand: The farmers.

[Basil B]

What is the limit on bringing sugar into Thailand, I have a 42Kg baggage allowance?

[ding]

Maybe if they cut out the sugar in bread, then maybe we can have some decent bread????

Here's hoping!!

Gawd, no kidding. Here in the US I had to buy organic whole food bread to get unsweetened bread. Then the company was bought by a big company. Now it tastes like cuhrap! If Thais think their wonderful fresh squeezed orange juice needs sugar, there is a problem there too. Can you almost SEE Thai butts swelling now?

[Bigge]

Why does not people think first and smuggle after that: In Malaysia the beer is 2 -3 times more expensive than in Thailand...

[brahmburgers]

Yes, Thais have to add sugar to nearly everything, omelets, ....even orange juice - yet they also add salt to orange juice. My 5 year old Akha step son has cavities in all his front teeth, from his sugar habit. Thais react to sweet and sour like they react to temperatures. If it's one degree below ideal temperature, they put on blankets and complain ' nao nao' (too cold) if one degree above, they say 'ron ron' yet put on jackets because they're spooked about getting a ray of sun on their skin.

Preeo (too sour) even for types of fruit - which to me taste pleasantly sweet.

When I was a little kid, I accidentally spilt a tiny bit of purple-colored cool-aid powder in the sugar jar. It was a big gallon jar full of white sugar. I tried mixing it in, hoping it would disappear. It didn't. My tyranical mom came home and went ballistic. Made me eat the entire gallon of white sugar - ok, not in one sitting, but in the next couple days.

The following week I had my first attack of hay fever. I've been afflicted with very bad hay fever allergies ever since. Coincidence, or the effects of an overload of sugar on a kid's growing body?

[ignis]

Sugar related..

Having diabetes I always look.. 'Tipo' Fruit Juice was always Sugar Free, a month or so ago they started adding 6gm sugar ? why?

Also odd sugar Free was 69 baht…. Now with sugar have seen it as low as 27baht, yesterday at Tesco Market it was on promotion @ 34 baht. Every type even Prune.... the sugar free one used to be 78 baht. How can adding 6gm of sugar make it less than half price?

[WatersEdge]

The US market has seen corn shifted to ethanol production,

which in turn is going to hurt the cattle industry since the Americans rely on corn as a feed stock.

It is a popular ignorance that Corn to Ethanol makes Beef more expensive.

The anti-Agriculture media band touts it continually,

because understanding the facts are just too complicated for news reporters,

and they figure their readers couldn't digest it,

so it makes cheap & easy copy line.

It is written so frequently that it's become generally accepted by those who don't know the industry facts.

I'd like to clarify that Ethanol from Corn converts 63% of the 75% Starch in the Grain Corn.

The 9% Protein and 4.5% Fat / Oil in the Corn is therefore concentrated nearly 3 times

Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) therefore is wonderful cattle feed,

26% Protein

13% Fat / Oil

35% Starch

Making Ethanol from Corn makes better feed more available in larger volume to the Animal Feed Industry.

In general the world already has too much Starch,

while not enough Protein and Fat,

so it is only good to make Ethanol from cheap plentiful Starch,

since it increases the market supply of Protein and Fat.

Since Thailand has untapped & surplus agricultural capacity,

an alternate destination of starch is completely a good thing.

Corn Sweetener is mentioned in this thread as well.

That US food processors are using Sugar instead of Corn sweetener

due to lower Sugar prices on the world market.

Corn Sweetener is the second enzyme result in the process producing Ethanol from Starch as in Corn.

The same Gluco amylase process will convert any starch to sugar,

so in that sense, if there were a genuine shortage,

Thailand could convert Cassava or Rice, or any other Starch to sweetener.

Thailand has annual farm protests that the Corn price isn't high enough,

even though the Thailand domestic price typically runs 30% above world market commodity price.

Since the animal feed industry is well developed in Thailand,

it would be only an advantage to convert plentiful starch to sweeteners.

Sugar Cane is far and away the cheapest source of Sugar

so it probably would not be feasible for Thailand to make sugar substitute sweeteners.

But the ultimate bottom line is...

There is NO shortage of sugar in Thailand,

It's an admirable marketing plan.

Everyone go out and buy another 40 kg of Sugar.

I promise you, the shelves will always be restocked.

[brahmburgers]

Sugar related..

Having diabetes I always look.. 'Tipo' Fruit Juice was always Sugar Free, a month or so ago they started adding 6gm sugar ? why?

Also odd sugar Free was 69 baht…. Now with sugar have seen it as low as 27baht, yesterday at Tesco Market it was on promotion @ 34 baht. Every type even Prune.... the sugar free one used to be 78 baht. How can adding 6gm of sugar make it less than half price?

I think you meant 'Tipco' not 'Tipo' - a 'typo' perchance?

I know, isn't it too weird. Food processors are always screwing up good things - they take a natural product and add all sorts of weird things - and then charge more. Pure peanut butter is impossible to find in Thailand, and Thai farmers grow peanuts. The only type you'll find, and that's only in a few farang supermarkets, is processed crap with sugar being the 2nd biggest ingredient, and of course v. high priced. Jif and Jiffy peanut butters are great if you want that hydrogenated hard white oil to pack on to the inside of your artery walls.

You also cannot find yogurt without lots of sugar added. There's one popular type that says it has no sugar, but the strong sugar taste is unmistakable. It's just a marketing ploy, and there are zero effective regulations against that sort of thing in Thailand.

Sugar also on nearly every type of packaged snack food, plus trans-fats. Thai authorities are expectedly 5 to 10 years behind the trend of more aware western places (like NY city) which has banned trans-fats - which are awful for health.

[Thai at Heart]

Let's look at the Sugar Industry a second folks.

The Sugar harvest season is almost over,

there is never more sugar in a producing country

than immediately after harvest.

For a Sugar company trying to dump their stock quickly,

wouldn't it make perfect sense to limit sales to only 2 kg?

If there was a genuine shortage, wouldn't the limit be 1 kg?

because that's the standard size bag sugar is sold by.

2 kg is more or less telegraphing their true goal to those able to think a bit.

That way all the alarmist saps with short memories run out and scam the plan,

buying up 10, 20, 40 kg, many trips to Tesco, 7-11, Carrefour, buying their allowed 2 kg at a time,

just to have enough to get through the crisis.

They are so clever...beat the system good.

The sugar producer empties their warehouse,

collects the cash at a premium price,

and smiles on the way to the bank.

Nobody got hurt...sugar keeps in the cupboard for a year nicely.

Just good marketing strategy.

Throw in a story about Burma buying up our sugar to make it seem international.

There needs to be some plausible reason that sugar is in short supply in Thailand, right?

Really now...don't you think Burma has their own sugar?

And if they didn't have their own sugar, does Burma have money to buy Thai sugar?

See you again next year!

Doesn't anyone remember that this happens every year?

This is my sixth sugar crisis since moving to Thailand.

Every single year, look for it again next year.

Have to agree with you here.

That said, why does the government get involved in maintaining the price of the bloody stuff anyway. What good is refined sugar to the Thai populous? They get involved in taxing tobacco and booze, but subsidize diabetes. Hmmmm

[Naam]

i hate I didnt invest in sugar. 10years ago it was just 12-13 a kg

guess the big companys just hold it back in their storehouses atm

How stupid can you be? This is a good thing. Sugar is bad for you anyway

Heck, he was sorry not to have INVESTED insugar; nary a word about EATING it!!!

the problem in this forum is that some people cannot read and some others cannot comprehend what they read

[wimpy]

Sugar related..

Having diabetes I always look.. 'Tipo' Fruit Juice was always Sugar Free, a month or so ago they started adding 6gm sugar ? why?

Also odd sugar Free was 69 baht…. Now with sugar have seen it as low as 27baht, yesterday at Tesco Market it was on promotion @ 34 baht. Every type even Prune.... the sugar free one used to be 78 baht. How can adding 6gm of sugar make it less than half price?

Tipco 100% fruit juice does not contain added sugar. It is full of natural sugars, so probably not a good thing for those with high blood sugar levels.

[mssabai]

Jesus, my m-i-l is going to have a heart attack. This is a woman who adds sugar to her 3-in-1 coffee. I suspect she would mainline the stuff if she had the knowhow.

[ignis]

Tipco 100% fruit juice does not contain added sugar

Yes until a few weeks ago, now in the shelves where the 100% fruit juice was, is still the same cartoons same shape and colours, just NOT 100% on the cartoon, nowhere can I see the 100% fruit juice anymore by Tipco.

Well the 6gm sugar one is where the 100% sugar free one used to be in Carrefour, Tesco Lotus, Tesco Express and Tesco Market. Must have been 3 weeks ago at Carrefour price was 27 baht, thought good but thought funny that it did not say promotion so made me look.

Pricing is most odd here and you have to look what your doing... Saturday at Carrefour Pepsi Max [is sugar free] was on promotion @ 20.5 baht, I always buy a pack so 12 bottles, at check out 1x pack of 12 was 286 baht !!! 40 baht more, so had to call manager so she could take the pack back and get 12 single bottles. This happens on many item, mainly must look on ‘refill’ items as they often work out far more expensive. They try to catch you out as often there side by side the refill is cheaper, but look again and the refill has less grams or ml..

[Jonathanpattaya]

Things might get a little sticky.

[tominbkk]

Tipco 100% fruit juice does not contain added sugar. It is full of natural sugars, so probably not a good thing for those with high blood sugar levels.

As that stuff is pasteurized, all the live enzymes within the fruit have been killed and basically you are ingesting pure fructose, which really isn't much better than the sucrose or HFCS that is loaded in most snack foods here.

If you want juice, your best bet is to buy a juicer, and have the juice of a couple oranges and a farang....at least then the nutrients and enzymes are still alive and it digests in the body much better. I know it is a bit spendy, but if you need juice then this is the healthiest way to have it. Otherwise, just eat the fruit itself.

[jerrylee]

I think they should introduce an additional check to see if manufacturers/producers are

using the cheaper amino-sweeteners "Aspartame" instead of real sugar,

MSG Giant Ajinimoto produces aspartame.

[geriatrickid]

The US market has seen corn shifted to ethanol production, which in turn is going to hurt the cattle industry since the Americans rely on corn as a feed stock.

It is a popular ignorance that Corn to Ethanol makes Beef more expensive.

The anti-Agriculture media band touts it continually, because understanding the facts are just too complicated for news reporters, and they figure their readers couldn't digest it, so it makes cheap & easy copy line. It is written so frequently that it's become generally accepted by those who don't know the industry facts.

I disagree with your position and I do not consider myself anti agriculture, nor do I consider the current concerns empty speculation. I have no axe to grind with farmers. I'll limit myself to the health issues below, however, I recommend that you read the following paper from the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines, as to why ethanol is not the energy panacea it is touted to be. http://hubbert.mines.edu/news/Pimentel_98-2.pdf

-Grain residue qualifies as a hazardous substance under health guildelines. In some jurisdictions, there is an exemption solely to satisfy the food processors and feedlot lobby.

-Grain residues used as feed increases the N (by 30 to 35% more) & P (by 40 to 45% more)content in the dung. The concentrations of the phosphorous and Nitrogen are so off, that the dung cannot even be used as soil supplementation as is the case now. It's too strong. Normal cow dung can be spread on fields. That is not possible with dung from cows fed onresidue. More land is required for the spread with the current view that it requires between 35 and 45% more land. This then leads to a problem commonly associated with pig farmers. large scale pork factory farms are known for their lakes and lakes of toxic liquid waste that poison the air and water. E.coli is synomous with cattle and dairy operations.

- What about the increase in Sulfur content? According to my Merck veterinary manual, animals fed high concentrate diets are at risk of developing PEM (polioencephalomalacia) which produces brain lesions resulting serious physiological problems.

- The runoff from feedlots using the grain residues will rrequire additional runoff protection to prevent the poisoning of the water. It is no big secret that large scale cattle and dairy operations create havoc with water supplies. Grain residues will tilt it even more.

-I won't even mention the flatulence byproducts, but it's no big secret that cattle release tremendous amounts of gas.

The economic reality is that the companies promoting the use of grain residues as feed have a vested interest in feedlots and in ethanol distillation. Independent farmers have nothing to gain, particularly if they wish to maintain their traditional livelihoods. If Archer Daniel Midlands says it is ok, that does not mean it is ok. ADM is looking out for its business interests. Fortunately, Thailand is not at the point where a handful of large corporate monstrosities can dictate how farmers will feed their stock. Grain residues can be used as feed supplements, but the balance is such that there is pressure on pricing and that is what is reported now.

[swifty5x5]

The US market has seen corn shifted to ethanol production,

which in turn is going to hurt the cattle industry since the Americans rely on corn as a feed stock.

It is a popular ignorance that Corn to Ethanol makes Beef more expensive.

The anti-Agriculture media band touts it continually,

because understanding the facts are just too complicated for news reporters,

and they figure their readers couldn't digest it,

so it makes cheap & easy copy line.

It is written so frequently that it's become generally accepted by those who don't know the industry facts.

I'd like to clarify that Ethanol from Corn converts 63% of the 75% Starch in the Grain Corn.

The 9% Protein and 4.5% Fat / Oil in the Corn is therefore concentrated nearly 3 times

Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) therefore is wonderful cattle feed,

26% Protein

13% Fat / Oil

35% Starch

Making Ethanol from Corn makes better feed more available in larger volume to the Animal Feed Industry.

In general the world already has too much Starch,

while not enough Protein and Fat,

so it is only good to make Ethanol from cheap plentiful Starch,

since it increases the market supply of Protein and Fat.

Since Thailand has untapped & surplus agricultural capacity,

an alternate destination of starch is completely a good thing.

Corn Sweetener is mentioned in this thread as well.

That US food processors are using Sugar instead of Corn sweetener

due to lower Sugar prices on the world market.

Corn Sweetener is the second enzyme result in the process producing Ethanol from Starch as in Corn.

The same Gluco amylase process will convert any starch to sugar,

so in that sense, if there were a genuine shortage,

Thailand could convert Cassava or Rice, or any other Starch to sweetener.

Thailand has annual farm protests that the Corn price isn't high enough,

even though the Thailand domestic price typically runs 30% above world market commodity price.

Since the animal feed industry is well developed in Thailand,

it would be only an advantage to convert plentiful starch to sweeteners.

Sugar Cane is far and away the cheapest source of Sugar

so it probably would not be feasible for Thailand to make sugar substitute sweeteners.

But the ultimate bottom line is...

There is NO shortage of sugar in Thailand,

It's an admirable marketing plan.

Everyone go out and buy another 40 kg of Sugar.

I promise you, the shelves will always be restocked.

Anybody that thinks making people food into gas is a good idea, with so many starving. Should go back to school and learn the basics not what the big corn suppliers in U.S.A bs about.

[DickFarang]

Two kg of sugar ?! That should suffice for some ten years for one person.

In Thailand they mix sugar in anything; even the bread in 7-11 contains sugar.

My Thai wife bakes Belgian style farmer’s bread (flour – water – salt – yeast) and we never drink coke, etc.

[toptuan]

Maybe if they cut out the sugar in bread, then maybe we can have some decent bread????

So THAT'S why I like bread so much in LOS! Just couldn't put my finger on it!

[OZEMADE]

i hate I didnt invest in sugar. 10years ago it was just 12-13 a kg

guess the big companys just hold it back in their storehouses atm

How stupid can you be? This is a good thing. Sugar is bad for you anyway

My misses reckons it's great. She is always complaining about carrying those 2X20 kilo sacks around.

[gotlost]

I need sugar to make my shine,what am I going to do?

[DickFarang]

To add to Xonax's observation, the situation is even odder when taken in the context that North American food processors are switching to sugar over corn syrup because sugar costs less now. The US market has seen corn shifted to ethanol production, which in turn is going to hurt the cattle industry since the Americans rely on corn as a feed stock. No problem in the 2 other big beef exporting regions of Australia and Canada since feed grain is usually barley in western Canada and barley/sorghum in Australia. The point being that diversification of supply protects a nation. What the heck were the folks in the ministry of Agriculture doing over the past year?

It really is odd that there is a sugar "shortage" in Thailand, as supplies are plentiful in the world market. It's stories like this that suggest that Thaialand is sitting on a ticking time bomb and it's not political. Rather, it is the state of food supply and agriculture. With the coming water shortage and expected drought this year, it is going to be difficult for farmers to make a living let alone bring in the necessary crops that keep everyone fed and happy. If there are shortages or disruptions in the food supply, this would create civil unrest far more frightening than anything the Reds/Yellows could dream of. It is going to be a rough year for some of the most important and needed people in Thailand: The farmers.

Before the introduction of motor cars, more than ¼ of farmland in the US was needed to feed horses.

As to another supplier of beef, Argentina, their cattle lives in nature (cow-boys are called gauchos in Argentina) and they boast that their cattle has got “one hectare under each of their feet”.

(1 hectare = 10,000 sqm = 2.47105381 acres)

[cdnvic]

Corn markets are not the subject here, please stay on topic.

[animatic]

Addicts ALWAYS think it's great and something else caused their symptoms of distress.

Sugar addiction is the worst disease in Thailand that i have observed.

[brahmburgers]

Addicts ALWAYS think it's great and something else caused their symptoms of distress.

Sugar addiction is the worst disease in Thailand that i have observed.

worse than fermented sugar (alcoholic drinks) addiction?

Seriously though. Here we are on a farang dominated forum, and the discussion is getting in to deep issues concerning economics, health, ethenol and cow farts. If Thais were talking about this, the discussion would be something like,

Person A: 'You like things made sweet by sugar?'

person B: 'Yes, I like sweet things also. What's wrong with that?'

Person A: 'I don't know, but farang take simple things and make them sound so complicated.'