Chinese sugar demand is expected to grow strongly this decade as domestic consumption will outpace production, a senior Chinese industry official said on Wednesday. "We can estimate that the increase of sugar consumption will exceed that of sugar crops and sugar production capacity," said Jiao Nianmin, secretary general of the China Sugar Association in Beijing, referring to the next five-year period.
"By then (2009), China will become a net importer of sugar, with annual imports of over two million tonnes, and China will be the biggest potential sugar market in Asia and in the world as well," he told a conference of the International Sugar Organisation.
"Fast economic development is the essential factor to spur sugar consumption."
Jiao said that by 2010, sugar production capacity in China would exceed 14 million tonnes, and the domestic sugar market would reach 16 million tonnes.
He said the production capacity of Chinese sugar mills in 2003/04 was 12 million tonnes per year, and estimated sugar imports in 2003/04 were 1.2 million tonnes.
Jiao said that sugar consumption in China would keep pace with national income growth and food industry development.
After reaching 9.2 million tonnes in 2001/02, sugar consumption in China in 2002/03 exceeded 10 million tonnes for the first time, and in 2003/04 reached 11 million tonnes, he added.
In the past five years, the annual increase in sugar consumption in China was 7.6 percent, broadly in line with GDP growth, Jiao said.