Crop products and commodities
Sugarcane
ASEAN sugar producers form alliance
Myanmar has formed an alliance with six other sugar-producing countries in the region, with a view to improving cooperation and boosting trade, in preparation for the ASEAN Economic Community, which aims to create a single market for capital, goods, labour and services. Seven countries – ...
Sugar company's compensation deals leave families bitter in Kampong Speu
In 2010, more than 1,500 families in Kampong Speu’s Oral district were evicted from the land they had cultivated since the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 to make way for a Phnom Penh Sugar Company mega-plantation. Bunsak, head of the Cambodian Human Rights ...
Finishing touches coming for Sugar Act
A draft of the long-awaited Sugar Act is to be revised with recommendations from industry figures at a meeting of the Sugar and Sugar Related Products Merchants and Manufacturers Association on 17 May. Once the revision is complete the act will be submitted to parliament through Myanmar’s ...
Drought killing next year's sugar crop
The El Nino weather phenomenon has played havoc with crops across Southeast Asia and beyond. Thailand, the world’s second-largest sugar exporter, will ship 20% less of the sweetener to international markets this year than last, and farmers fear the damage already inflicted on young cane ...
Koh Kong locals seek land’s return
Representatives of 526 Koh Kong families hopped on their motos on 25 March to deliver petitions to their district town halls calling for the return of land taken from them by a 2006 economic land concession (ELC), as well as compensation for lost crops. In 2006, a ...
Brazil challenges Thai sugar 'subsidies'
Brazil will challenge Thailand at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over “subsidies” for sugar producers that it says have dragged down global prices, the Trade Ministry said. Brazil said the Thai government had given support to cane growers and sugar mills that was inconsistent with international trade ...
Sugar posts 1st gain in 5 years as El Nino ends surplus
After four bitter years, sugar mills can look forward to sweeter prospects in 2016. Prices have rebounded 50% since reaching a seven-year low in August. Raw-sugar futures traded in New York posted a 5% gain for the year, their first annual advance since 2010. The market ...
Rights report decries Thai sugar firm’s tactics
Asia’s largest sugar producer, Mitr Phol, is responsible for violating the rights of hundreds of villagers in Oddar Meanchey who saw their land grabbed, homes destroyed and livestock killed to make way for plantations, according to the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT). The Thai ...
