Ships Stranded Offshore as Concerns Over Thai Sugar Products Rise
PUBLISHED: 4 Jan 2025 at 17:42
Concerns over the hygiene standards of Thai sugar products have led to significant disruptions, with damages potentially reaching hundreds of millions of baht. Thai cargo ships carrying over 400 million baht worth of syrup are currently stranded off the coast of China, following an order from the Chinese Food Safety Bureau.
The General Administration of Customs (GACC) raised alarms regarding the hygiene conditions of two Thai-produced products: syrup (code 170290110) and pre-mixed sugar powder (code 1702901200). The bureau has mandated a reassessment of the production facilities in Thailand.
Under the new regulations, registration of new syrup and pre-mixed powder facilities has been suspended, and any shipments from Thailand dated after December 10 of last year are prohibited from entering China.
The Thai authorities are actively working to assist affected exporters by attempting to facilitate the entry of shipments dispatched before the cutoff date. However, the GACC emphasized that before any shipments can resume, assessments must be conducted by a recognized authority.
Todsaporn Ruangpattananont, president of the Thai Sugar Trade Industry Association, revealed that 47 production facilities have been impacted without prior notification. Shipments valued at approximately 300 million to 400 million baht remain stranded, unable to reach Chinese ports.
If ongoing negotiations between Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and the GACC do not yield positive outcomes, 74 GACC-registered syrup and pre-mixed powder manufacturers in Thailand’s free zone will face significant losses, failing to offload their products. These facilities collectively account for 2.1 million tonnes of the country’s total sugar production.
The inability to export this volume could severely affect sugar and sugarcane prices in the upcoming year, as Thailand is the largest exporter of processed sugar products under the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, with annual sales to China valued at 29.8 billion baht.
