The Siamese sugar trade during the first half of the nineteenth century: Trade pattern, business operations and state policies

This article recounts the story of the Siamese sugar trade in the first half of the nineteenth century. Many scholars have pointed out that the expansion of the Siamese sugar economy was a result of local Chinese production skills and the Siamese elite’s policy to encourage sugar exports for state income. The expansion of the Siamese sugar trade, however, was also due to external factors. This article examines the changing world sugar trade pattern starting in the late eighteenth century and how Siam participated in this new opportunity by relying on its production capacity and transoceanic commercial networks operated by Western and Indian firms to supply Siamese sugar to the global market. The study also demonstrates the Siamese adaptation to participate in the world economy when the Southeast Asian region became integrated into the free trade system in the early nineteenth century. The Siamese sugar trade continued for only a half century and then declined by the 1860s due to several obstacles preventing the growth of sugar production and its ability to produce significant profits in the world sugar market.