No decision has been taken to import raw sugar into Guyana although the Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) is behind its production target by some 29,000 tonnes owing to inclement weather.
The sugar industry is projected to achieve an output of 290,000 tonnes, an increase of 8.8 per cent over 2007 because of the increased acreage under cultivation, increased production and the commissioning of the new Skeldon factory.
Guysuco Chief Executive Nick Jackson in a brief statement issued to Stabroek News through the Ministry of Agriculture on Monday after it had been reported in the state newspaper, said that “there has been no decision taken to import raw sugar into Guyana.” The statement was in relation to a story carried in the Sunday Stabroek of March 16, 2008 which reported that Guysuco was considering the importation of sugar for the local market so it could meet its foreign market quota.
Stabroek News had sought a comment from the Chief Executive on Thursday, but had been referred to the Marketing Director, who was not available. The official did not return this newspaper’s calls.
According to Jackson, no decision has been taken to import raw sugar into Guyana “despite the fact that Guysuco is behind its production target by some 29,000 tonnes due to inclement weather caused by the recent La Nina conditions.”
Sunday Stabroek had also reported that the management of Guysuco had been alerted to the fact that owing to flood conditions in Berbice, the operations there had been suspended until there was a break in the rainy weather.
In that report this newspaper had also stated that the Guysuco Board of Directors had been advised of “the possibility of importing sugar for the local market, while exporting to the EU (Euro-pean Union), might become a reality in the not too distant future.”
The bulk of Guyana’s sugar – 80 per cent or 167,000 tonnes – is exported to the European market, 15 per cent to Caricom, and five per cent to the US.
However, Minister of Foreign Trade and Interna-tional Cooperation, Dr Henry Jeffrey has also noted that in order to protect Guyana’s export market, Guyana had granted Common External Tariff (CET) waivers to some Caricom countries to import sugar from extra-regional sources.
Apart from Trinidad and Tobago which receives bulk sugar from Guyana, this country’s sugar in 50kg bags is shipped to Suriname, St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, St Vincent and Jamaica under the CET agreement.
Under the Caricom Common Market, the CET was established to protect certain products, including sugar, produced in the region. A 40 per cent duty is levied on raw cane sugar from extra-regional sources. This duty was imposed to allow sugar-producing countries in the Common Market to help meet intra-regional requirements at competitive prices.
During the late 1980s Guyana imported sugar extra-regionally to meet local market demands to protect its European Union market.
