December 12, 2019
Directors/Members
Mr. Leslie Parris - BARBADOS AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT CO.
Mr. Mac McLachlan - BELIZE SUGAR INDUSTRIES LIMITED
Dr. Harold Davis- GUYANA SUGAR CORPORATION INC.
Mr. R. Karl James - SUGAR MANUFACTURING CORPORATION OF JAMAICA LTD.
CARICOM sugar producers to accelerate investments to meet regional market demand
Last month’s Trade Ministers’ decision at COTED to the incremental protection of regionally produced sugars when it meets the standards required by regional users of sugar was discussed at this week’s meeting of Sugar Association of the Caribbean (SAC) Directors.
Recognizing that the future of these important industries lies in the full regional integration of CARICOM produced sugars into CARICOM supply chains, SAC agreed to accelerate investment to produce higher quantities of quality, food grade sugar for this purpose.
Several regional industries in Belize and Guyana have already embarked on significant investment programmes aimed at meeting regional demand. Already the region producers almost double CARICOM’s annual sugar demand, but two thirds of that demand continues to be filled with extra regional imported sugar dumped into the CARICOM market tariff free, forcing CARICOM producers out of their own market.
SAC industries have agreed to make further investments to ensure regionally produced sugar is of a quality suitable for industrial users of sugar. This follows an independent study produced for the CARICOM Secretariat that proved the widespread use of plantation white and other direct consumption sugars in regional and global supply chains. The COTED decision guaranteeing Treaty protection for regional sugar once this is achieved helps to underpin that investment.
SAC also discussed the continuing importation of brown sugar from outside the region without full application of the Common External Tariff. This practice has massively diluted the value of the regional market for regional sugar producers. COTED agreed this practice should stop forthwith. A new monitoring mechanism of sugar flows also agreed at COTED will enforce the correct use of Treaty protections moving forward. SAC deliberated on the principles this monitoring mechanism should embrace.
171st Meeting and 79th Ordinary General Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean - 11 December 2019, Barbados
Intra-Regional Sugar Trade
Excluding individual domestic market needs, SAC producers are projecting sales of 60,000 tonnes of direct consumption sugar to non -producing countries in the Region in 2019-2020.
Extra Regional Sugar Trade
In 2018/2019, SAC members exported 209,055 tonnes of raw sugar to the European Union and 41,164 tonnes to the Unites States markets, a total of 250,219 tonnes. These exports show that regional producers have the capacity to supply the CARICOM market. Given the low prices obtained in the EU, these exports can be diverted to the regional market once the necessary protection is implemented as per the COTED decision last month.
Election of Chairman of SAC for the year 2019/2020.
Mr. R. Karl James was re-elected as Chairman of the SAC for the year 2019/2020
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For further information, see our website: www.caribbean-sugar.org
Or please contact:
R. Karl James Chairman, SAC
t + 876 929-6213
m + 876 371-2637
Email. karljam@gmail.com
William A. Neal
Government Affairs and Communications Officer, Belize Sugar Industries Limited
t +501 322-2150
m +501 610-9774
Email: william.neal@asr-group.com