Farmers and businesses are struggling.
According to the Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Environment, in the 2024-2025 crop year, the province will have approximately 45,000 hectares of sugarcane, with an estimated production of over 2.9 million tons, ranking first in the country in terms of area and second in terms of production. The province currently has 5 sugar production enterprises with 6 processing plants, creating jobs for thousands of workers and providing livelihoods for over 19,100 sugarcane farming households. However, behind these impressive figures lies a challenging picture due to smuggled sugar.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh, Deputy General Director of 333 Sugar Company (Dak Lak), the 2024-2025 crop year will see many difficulties for the company due to unfavorable weather conditions, high production costs, and continuously falling sugar prices. In particular, the smuggling of sugar and trade fraud continue to strongly impact the sales activities of domestic sugar producers.
In the 2024-2025 crop year, 333 Sugar Corporation has an inventory of up to 19,160 tons of sugar. According to the company, smuggling and trade fraud involving sugar, especially in the form of goods produced for export, temporary import and re-export, etc., have not been thoroughly controlled. Smuggled sugar and sugar of unknown origin are circulating widely while domestic consumption demand is declining, creating pressure from oversupply, driving down domestic sugar prices, causing difficulties for businesses in selling their products, and leading to increasing inventory.
Mr. KVSR Subbaiah - General Director of KCP Vietnam Industrial Co., Ltd. (which has a sugar factory in Dak Lak province) - informed that cheap sugar from Thailand is being smuggled through Laos and Cambodia and then into Vietnam, creating unfair competition as smuggled goods are not subject to taxes.
According to KVSR Subbaiah, the sugar industry is currently subject to an 8% VAT tax, which is expected to increase to 10% from January 1, 2027. Meanwhile, smuggled sugar is flooding the market, forcing domestic businesses to fulfill their tax obligations while simultaneously being unable to compete on price. This makes sugar production and consumption increasingly difficult for businesses.
When businesses' output is "blocked" by smuggled sugar, pressure immediately shifts back to the raw material producing regions. Sugarcane prices continuously fall while production costs rise, causing tens of thousands of farming households to suffer the most severe losses.
Diligently cutting sugarcane stalks for hire, Mrs. Phan Thi Noi (M'Drắk commune, Đắk Lắk province) bitterly said: "Cutting sugarcane for hire earns me a few hundred thousand dong a day, but growing sugarcane myself means working the land from dawn till dusk all year round, and at the end of the season, I still have to pay out of my own pocket to cover the losses."
My grandmother's family owns nearly 3 hectares of sugarcane, but they suffered heavy losses last season. From over 80 tons in the previous season, the yield dropped to about 35 tons due to prolonged rain causing the sugarcane to die, grow poorly, and have low sugar content. Meanwhile, the price of sugarcane at harvest time was only about 550 VND/kg, while the costs of fertilizer, land preparation, and labor all increased, with the cost of harvesting sugarcane alone reaching about 270,000 VND/ton, leaving the growers with almost no profit.
"Last year we earned nearly 200 million dong, but this year it's only about 80 million dong. I've never seen a sugarcane harvest as disastrous as this year," Grandma Noi said with a sigh.
Sharing the same predicament, Ms. Le Thi Sen (Cu Prao commune, Dak Lak province) said that her family's 1-hectare sugarcane crop only yielded about 45 tons, selling at around 500 VND/kg, resulting in a loss of over 10 million VND after deducting expenses. Sugarcane is the main source of income for her family, but low prices, high costs, and slow purchasing by the factory, which reduces the quality of the sugarcane, make life even more difficult. "With prices like this, I don't want to grow sugarcane anymore," Ms. Sen expressed.
Smuggled goods are blocking access to domestic routes.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Sugar Association, smuggled sugar mainly crosses the borders with Cambodia and Laos, originating from Thailand. Along with this, the amount of imported HFCS corn syrup has increased sharply, gradually replacing cane sugar in the food and beverage industry, causing domestic sugar consumption to continue to decline.
"Smuggled sugar has almost completely blocked the domestic sugar market. Even though sugar prices have been continuously falling (currently only around 15,000-16,000 VND/kg) , it's still very difficult to sell. Large inventories have caused the purchase price of raw sugarcane at the farm to drop to only about 1,000-1,200 VND/kg, directly affecting the income of tens of thousands of sugarcane farmers," Mr. Loc said.
According to Mr. Loc, to prevent this situation, it is necessary to strictly control the origin of sugar circulating in the market and strengthen tax management for business activities to limit the consumption of smuggled sugar.
According to a survey conducted in March 2026 by the National Assembly Delegation of Dak Lak province, in the 2024-2025 crop year, the sugar inventory of businesses in the province reached over 103,000 tons, accounting for nearly 18% of the total sugar inventory nationwide. Specifically, KCP Vietnam Industrial Co., Ltd. had over 52,641 tons in inventory, Tuy Hoa Sugar Corporation had 28,788 tons, 333 Sugar Corporation had nearly 19,160 tons, and Dak Lak Sugar Corporation had 2,601 tons.
Mr. Luong Nguyen Minh Triet, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Dak Lak province, said that the province has fully acknowledged the difficulties faced by businesses and sugarcane growers, especially the pressure from smuggled sugar.
"Dak Lak has a large sugarcane growing area, but many farmers are no longer enthusiastic about harvesting because sugarcane prices have dropped, while labor costs are often higher than the money earned from selling the sugarcane. Dak Lak province is requesting the central government to soon issue policies to support the sugarcane industry, while also strengthening control over smuggled sugar, protecting processing businesses, and ensuring livelihoods for tens of thousands of sugarcane-growing households," Mr. Triet said.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/vua-mia-lon-nhat-nuoc-lao-dao-post1854558.tpo
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