For many years, the single largest source of foreign exchange earnings, sugar was relegated to number four last year.
In his budget presentation today, Finance Minister Ashni Singh said that export earnings expanded by 16.1 percent to US$891.9 million.
“Export proceeds from gold grew by 23 percent to US$346.4, reflecting a 26.7 percent increase in price. The bauxite sector generated US$114.6 million in export receipts, on the strength of average export prices increasing by 78.5 percent, outweighing the contraction in export volume. Rice exports earnings expanded by 35.5 percent to US$154.6 million, mainly attributable to a 28.9 percent increase in export volume to 336,313 tonnes coupled with a 5.1 percent increase in average export prices. On the other hand export receipts from sugar suffered a 13.2 percent decline to US$104 million, on account of a 9.8 percent decline in the average export price and lower export volume.”
