THAI SUGAR INDUSTRY AND POSSIBILITIES OF GROWTH

Thailand is the second biggest sugar exporter in the world and its sugar industry has enjoyed a long-standing expansion. However, such a growth has some limits that are, in the case of Thailand, closely related to low efficiency. Weak investments in the sectoral research, relatively tough market regulation and certain persisting difficulties in obtaining financial resources, do not promise an early correction which is, though, an indispensable condition for maintaining and strengthening the current importance of the Thai sugar industry, which must respond to the ambitious government plans concerning further sugar and ethanol expansion, as well as to the forthcoming trade liberalization within the AEC.