Bangkok: Thailand grew less sugar cane in the 2023-24 season as there wasn’t enough rain, according to the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board (OCSB).
This might mean there’s less sugar available worldwide since Thailand is the second-biggest sugar seller after Brazil.
A person from the farmers’ group in the OCSB said that Thailand harvested 82.2 million tons of sugar cane in the 2023-2024 season, which is 11.7 million tons less than before because of the dry weather.
The lack of rain caused a water shortage, hurting sugar cane farms in Thailand.
Farmers sent 82.2 million tons of sugar cane to factories for sugar production, with 70% being fresh and the remaining burnt.
About 57 factories made 8.77 million tons of sugar and 3.55 tons of molasses in the same season.
They got 107kg of sugar from each ton of sugar cane, which was pretty sweet.
The OCSB said that sugar prices fell from 25 US cents per pound to 19 US cents per pound because Brazil and India produced more sugar when the world economy was slow, and people didn’t need as much sugar.
They think Thailand will grow more sugar cane in the 2024-25 season because farmers might switch from growing cassava to sugar cane since sugar prices are higher.
