Many sectors affected

Dessert-makers will see their total cost of production leap by 6.2 per cent.

The government has raised ex-factory sugar prices by Bt5.35 per kilogram, including value-added tax, to help sugar-cane farmers who suffered losses from the drop in productivity last year.

The ex-factory white sugar price has jumped to Bt2,033 per 100-kilogram pack, from Bt1,498 previously.

The other industries that will bear higher costs are beverages (3.7 per cent), monosodium glutamate (2.8 per cent), alcohol distilling (2.5 per cent) and milk (2.3 per cent).

"Based on domestic consumption of sugar in the industrial sector of 7.7 million packs a year, the sector will have to carry a higher cost of Bt4.09 billion a year," the research house said.

The beverage industry, which uses sugar as a major ingredient in its production, will be burdened by Bt1.86

billion a year in extra expenses.

Others are the food industry, with a higher sugar cost of Bt1.22 billion a year, followed by the milk industry with a rise of Bt776 million a year.

The candy industry will carry Bt125 million in additional sugar costs a year. The bread industry will face a sugar cost surge of Bt122 million a year, while the pharmaceutical industry can expect to spend Bt86 million more a year.