Khorazm-Shakar and Angren-Shakar sugar factories ceased operations. The representatives of the industry note that the halt in production was preceded by a drop in demand for sugar products of the two factories.
According to representatives of the Angren-Shakar plant, suppliers of raw materials have stopped deliveries. Both enterprises are unable to sell sugar due to uncompetitive prices of their products, with warehouses full of sugar.
“Foreign partners stopped the supply of raw materials, seeing that the plants are on the verge of bankruptcy,” the source said. He stressed that the Uzbek markets are full of imported sugar, and local producers are not able to compete in price.
The representative of Angren-Shakar indicated that this year sugar was included in the list of food products, for the import of which will not be levied customs duties and excise tax. “The locla market has been fully taken over by Russian sugar at a lower price. The situation is the same with manufacturers in Kazakhstan,” he added.
This is not the first time that local factories have encountered problems. At the end of 2017, Khorazm-Shakar and Angren-Shakar, whose total production capacity can reach 700 thousand tons of sugar per year, suspended operations due to the devaluation of the national currency. Another limiting factor in the "Uzbekozikovkatholding" then called the lack of land and water for growing sugar beets. Because of this, local enterprises have had to load their capacities with sugarcane from abroad.