2.36 Million Tons HFCS Production in 2011

By CnAgri2012-08-22 13:17:07 Print

The domestic HFCS market in 2011 sustained the strong momentum of demand, production and sales from 2010. The industry developed rapidly and the production recorded 2.36 million tons, whereas it had been merely 400,000 tons in 2006.

HFCS has been developing rapidly in recent years among starch sugar products. It is closely related to the development of the industries of sugar and food with sugar content. Apart from being used in soft drinks, HFCS has been more and more extensively used in canned food and bakery in late years. After ups and downs, the recent years have seen rapid growth.

The development of HFCS entered a new stage from late 2009 to 2011. The price for cane sugar rose markedly, plus the rapid development of the domestic food industry, the growth of food with sugar content has been fast, hence there has been rising shortage of sugar. Sugar users that use starch sugar are cost competitive, therefore has been growing demand for starch sugar, especially there has been strong demand for HFCS in soft drinks.

While gaining progress and development, the HFCS industry also faces challenges. First, there has been rapid expansion of capacity of the industry, hence the competition among producers is intensifying. From the latter half of 2009 various places have paced up capacity expansion and the current expansion and planned expansion is 5 million tons. Such expansion surely would lead to fierce competition. Corn and starch further processing projects have to be approved by the Government and there is policy restriction. Also, there are risks concerning sales and market capacity of HFCS, uncertainty of cane sugar price, transportation and storage.

The 12th Five Year shall be the crucial period for the development of HFCS industry. On the one hand, the development of the food industry especially food with sugar content and the exploration of the potential market such as pharmaceuticals have enlarged the demand for HFCS and fructose. On the other hand the cane sugar market and the corn market in the 12th Five Year shall have extreme impact on HFCS industry. The macro adjustment policy, taxation policy and environmental protection policy shall have higher requirement on corn and starch further processing projects, and the industry shall usher in readjustment and reshuffling.

From "China Sugar Market Monthly Report"