Concerns over hygiene in Thai factories have led to fears of damages worth hundreds of millions of baht after Thai sugar products were halted mid-shipment to China. As a result, Thai cargo ships carrying syrup valued at over 400 million baht are currently stranded off China’s coast.
The Office of Agricultural Affairs at the Thai embassy in Beijing reported that China’s Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs (GACC) has issued a ban on Thai-produced syrup (code 170290110) and pre-mixed sugar powder (code 1702901200). The GACC cited unsanitary conditions in the production facilities as the reason for the suspension and called for evaluations of factory management.
The announcement included two key orders: a halt on the registration of new syrup and pre-mixed powder production facilities, and a restriction on shipments from Thailand made after December 10 of last year from entering China.
The Office of Agricultural Affairs is currently working to assist exporters, aiming to facilitate the entry of shipments made before the specified date. However, the GACC emphasized that assessments by a “competent authority” of Thai processing plants must be conducted before shipments can resume.
Todsaporn Ruangpattananont, president of the Thai Sugar Trade Industry Association, stated that 47 facilities in Thailand have been impacted and did not receive prior notification before the announcement. Shipments valued between 300 million and 400 million baht have been left in limbo after being denied entry into Chinese ports.
He noted that 74 GACC-registered syrup and pre-mixed powder manufacturers located in Thailand’s free zone will be unable to offload their products if negotiations between Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the GACC do not yield positive results. These 74 factories produce approximately 2.1 million tonnes of Thailand’s total 6.5 million tonnes of sugar, and a failure to export this volume would substantially affect sugar and sugarcane prices this year, according to Mr. Todsaporn.
Thailand is the largest exporter of processed sugar products under the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement, exporting goods worth 29.8 billion baht to China annually.
