By Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul
The Nation
Mitr Phol Sugar Group, Thailand's largest sugar producer, has postponed its planned Bt4billion investment in establishing a factory in Cambodia, due mainly to the global economic slowdown.
The company planned to use the facility as its production base to serve demand in Cambodia and export to Europe.
Cambodia has a special quota to export raw sugar to the European Union in 2009 under an "Everything But Arms" scheme, at prices higher than those on the world market.
Chairman Issara Vongkusolkij said it would at the appropriate time establish the sugar plant as a joint venture with its European partner.
"We are waiting for the proper period to continue our investment plan," he said.
"The global crisis could lead to lower sugar consumption in Europe, while we also face difficulty in raising funds amid the global credit crunch."
Meanwhile, the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board announced the primary price for cane in the 2008/09 harvesting season at Bt850 per tonne, up from Bt670 in the previous season.
"It is good that cane growers can sell at a high price because they will have more spending power to stimฌulate the overall economy," Issara said.
Mitr Phol has an overall production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of sugar a year, which accounts for 5 per cent of regional capacity. Of that total, 1.5 million tonnes is produced in Thailand and the rest from its plant in China.
It owns five sugar mills in China with a daily production capacity of 716,000 tonnes of cane, an annual crushing capacity of 8.8 million tonnes, and an annual sugar output of 1.1 million tonnes.
The group is also constructing a plant in Laos, which will have a proฌduction capacity of 5,000 tonnes of sugar cane per day.
The company planned to use the facility as its production base to serve demand in Cambodia and export to Europe.
Cambodia has a special quota to export raw sugar to the European Union in 2009 under an "Everything But Arms" scheme, at prices higher than those on the world market.
Chairman Issara Vongkusolkij said it would at the appropriate time establish the sugar plant as a joint venture with its European partner.
"We are waiting for the proper period to continue our investment plan," he said.
"The global crisis could lead to lower sugar consumption in Europe, while we also face difficulty in raising funds amid the global credit crunch."
Meanwhile, the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board announced the primary price for cane in the 2008/09 harvesting season at Bt850 per tonne, up from Bt670 in the previous season.
"It is good that cane growers can sell at a high price because they will have more spending power to stimฌulate the overall economy," Issara said.
Mitr Phol has an overall production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of sugar a year, which accounts for 5 per cent of regional capacity. Of that total, 1.5 million tonnes is produced in Thailand and the rest from its plant in China.
It owns five sugar mills in China with a daily production capacity of 716,000 tonnes of cane, an annual crushing capacity of 8.8 million tonnes, and an annual sugar output of 1.1 million tonnes.
The group is also constructing a plant in Laos, which will have a proฌduction capacity of 5,000 tonnes of sugar cane per day.
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