Members of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean (SAC) met on 03 & 04 November 2022 in Georgetown, Guyana for their 171st Board of Directors Meeting.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) hosted the Meeting. The Directors would like to express their thanks to the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sasenarine Singh and staff for their assistance with organising the meeting.
Meetings with Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture and the Deputy Secretary General, CARICOM Secretariat
The Chairman of SAC, Mr. R. Karl James and Dr. Kusha Haraksingh, Adviser, paid courtesy calls on the Honourable Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Agriculture, Guyana and Mr. Joseph Cox, Deputy Secretary General, CARICOM Secretariat. Minister Mustapha assured them of Guyana’s commitment to SAC and informed of plans to increase the country’s sugar production in the immediate future. The SAC officials discussed with ASG Cox CARICOM’s operationalizing of the Monitoring Mechanism for Sugar (MMS) and improved sourcing of regional brown sugar.
SAC Future Work Plan
The Directors discussed a Future Work Plan for the Association. Key components of the plan are Green Energy Production, Carbon Credits and Markets, Food Security, Climate Resilience and Integrated Pest Management among other crossing cutting areas for sugar producing states, the regional agriculture sector and the wider CARICOM. A special technical working group will be established to operationalize the plan based on priority areas.
The Directors also took note of and endorsed the Regional Agricultural Sector Plan, which aims to reduce CARICOM’s food import bill by 25 percent by the year 2025. The Association agreed to work with the CARICOM Special Ministerial Task Force on Food Security and plan to present its Work Plan to them.
Intra-Regional Trade
The meeting was pleased to verify that intra-regional brown sugar trade was increasing to reflect the goals of the CSME. This is a major step for SAC members as they have maintained there is more than enough regional supply to meet all of the regional sugar demand. Trade has almost doubled annually since 2019.
Industry Plans
Members provided updates on future industry plans. The meeting was apprised of plans by GUYSUCO to increase sugar production to 100,000 tonnes by 2024, and to increase production of direct consumption sugars.
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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
Communications, SAC
t +501 322-2150
m +501 610-9774
Email. william.neal@asr-group.com