In February 2025, after the new US President Trump took office, he began to introduce a series of tariff policies. In conjunction with the impact of the US anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese plant fiber hot-pressed products in 2024, my country's sugarcane bagasse environmentally friendly tableware has ushered in a huge challenge.
Today, Bao Xiaozhi focuses on analyzing the significant impact of the US tariffs on the global sugar industry and the impact on sugarcane bagasse environmentally friendly tableware.
my country is one of the world's major sugar consumers, with an annual sugar production and consumption gap of about 5 million tons, which is mainly filled by imports. The import volume of sugar has long ranked among the top three in the world. In the past 10 years, my country's sugar self-sufficiency rate has been about 65%, which is lower than the safety level of sugar self-sufficiency rate (70%) recognized by relevant national departments. However, my country does not import sugar from the United States, so there is no impact on both sides.
However, more than 90% of domestic bagasse environmentally friendly tableware is exported to the United States, Canada, France and other European and American countries. Guangxi is the largest export base in China. In 2023, the output of bagasse environmentally friendly tableware reached 150,000 tons. Since 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce has canceled the tariff preference for China's bagasse environmentally friendly tableware exported to the United States. Recently, the United States has imposed anti-dumping duties on China's hot-pressed fiber molded products exported to the United States. This link may have a fatal impact on my country's bagasse environmentally friendly tableware.
After Trump's 100th day in office, the continued decline in global oil prices, the appreciation of emerging market currencies against the US dollar, and the decline in international sugar prices may suppress the rise in domestic sugar prices, thereby affecting the profitability of sugar-making companies.
In addition, the decline in international oil prices has led to a linked decline in fuel ethanol prices. The decline in fuel ethanol prices has stimulated Brazilian sugar mills to increase the sugarcane-to-sugar ratio, and this change has in turn suppressed international sugar prices.
In short, the U.S. tariff increase is quite unfavorable to my country's bagasse tableware exports. Environmentally friendly tableware companies should transfer excess production capacity to low-tariff countries as soon as possible to defend the U.S. market.
