May 10,2022
PRODUCTION of sugar mills in Katha District, Sagaing Region is estimated at over 63,000 tonnes, according to a statement released by Sagaing Region Consumer Affairs Department.
The close season of sugarcane is at the end of May 2022. Over 580,000 tonnes of sugarcane by Great Wall Wilmar Co., Ltd, 25,000 tonnes by Mya Taungtha mill, and 30,000 tonnes by UTP sugar mill were processed, totalling over 630,000 tonnes of sugarcane.
One tonne of sugar is produced if ten tonnes of sugarcane are milled. Therefore, a total of over 63,000 tonnes of sugar were produced by those three mills.
There were over 120,000 acres of sugarcane in 2021 in Katha District, with the yield rate estimated at 2.4 million tonnes of sugarcane.
Three mills in Katha and Htigyaing townships crushed over 600,000 tonnes of sugarcane. The remaining was delivered to the mills in Mandalay Region and the syrup manufacturing plants.
The milling period for that sugarcane produced in the 2021 season is from January to May 2022.
The millers faced banking restrictions to pay the growers. Nevertheless, they reached an agreement with the growers to practice a barter trade system. The refined sugar is given in return for sugarcane price and worker wages. The sugar is conveyed to the Mandalay depot. The sugar fetches K1,950 per viss (a viss equals 1.6 kilogrammes). — Lu Lay/GNLM
