Bangkok: Thailand's sugarcane growers and sugar mills have significantly reduced the practice of burning cane before harvest, with the burn rate falling to 3.8 per cent during the 2025-26 season - well within the government's prescribed ceiling of 10 per cent, Vietnam+ reported, citing the Air Pollution Control Communication Centre (APCC) under Thailand's Pollution Control Department.

The data covered the period from December 2 to May 3 of the 2025-26 harvest season. During this period, 58 sugar mills operating across 29 provinces processed more than 105.8 million tonnes of sugarcane, of which burned cane accounted for approximately 4 million tonnes.

The Ang Vien Industry Company in Nakhon Ratchasima province recorded the lowest pre-harvest burn rate among all mills at just 0.25 per cent, according to the report.

Pollution Control Department Director-General Surin Worakitthamrong said the results were noteworthy given that the sugar industry had faced both labour shortages and drought conditions during the season. He described the outcome as an encouraging development in Thailand’s wider efforts to tackle fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, pollution, noting that sugarcane-growing areas are considered among the major sources of particulate emissions during the country’s dry season.