PAMPLONA, Negros Oriental–A maker of organic-certified muscovado sugar, also known as the “poor man’s sugar” here has revealed bright prospects for their product in the Asian market.
Businessman-lawyer Alejandro Florian Alcantara said the prospects for muscovado trading is very bright in the Asian market as the production of the sugar mills in Okinawa, Japan dropped from 9500 tons to only 5000 tons per year.
“China, an erstwhile big supplier of muscovado, has also lost interest in making the product because they are now making white sugar for the richer Chinese market,” he noted.
Alcantara made these remarks during last Friday’s signing of an exclusive marketing deal with a South Korean company to sell his Raw Brown Sugar Milling Company’s muscovado sugar in the increasingly health-conscious South Korean market. {{more}}
The signing ceremony, which coincided with his 53rd birthday celebration, was held at the Raw Brown Sugar Milling Company board room in Igbalanac, Pamplona town, with officials of the provincial offices of the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Agriculture, the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (NOCCI) in attendance.
Alcantara said South Korea is the second biggest market for muscovado sugar in the world, next to Italy. He said South Korea has overtaken Japan as the biggest Asian market for muscovado.
The Raw Brown Sugar Milling Company, which started operations only in 2010, is the third company, out of the 300 muscovado producers in the country today, to penetrate the export market.
Alcantara’s exclusive marketing agents in South Korea are the Trustvision Co. Ltd., represented by Tommy Lee and Gen. Irving Malunda (ret.), and the Biken Korea Co. Ltd., represented by its president Young Jong Lee.
Lee Young Jong, in his remarks, said that they are optimistic of their success in marketing muscovado because more people in South Korea need health food. Muscovado is considered a health food because it retains all the natural ingredients of sugarcane, which is otherwise lost in the process of refining it.
Meanwhile, NOCCI President Edward Du hailed the contract signing as a momentous step for a Negros Oriental business enterprise and acknowledged the support and cooperation of the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Agriculture and the AFOS Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development Cooperation of Germany.
