The government has approved a plan to rescue the ailing sugar industry which is facing a crushing financial crisis due to overproduction, high prices and debt.
On December 7, the State Economic and Trade Commission convened a crisis meeting on the sugar industry which called for a cut in land taken by beet and cane, the closure of inefficient mills and the use of 12.6 billion yuan (about HK$11.75 billion) in government support, the Economic Daily reported yesterday.
In the past four years, the industry has lost more than 10 billion yuan.
It employs 320,000 factory workers and 40 million farmers, mostly in poor areas of the northeast and southwest, where there is little alternative employment.
There is surplus production of cane, beet and sugar from inefficient mills. Prices have been pushed above world-market norms.
The mainland price is 2,200 yuan a tonne, a record low, compared with 1,500-1,600 yuan on the international market.
