Sugar production for this year is down in the Caribbean and for the period 2016/17, the projected output is 406,000 tonnes.
This is according to a press release from the Sugar Association of the Caribbean following their 166th Board of Directors meeting in Barbados on May 25 to 26.
No production figure was given for the previous year but the projected output for 2016/17 is a far cry from production going back to 2004/5. By comparison, sugar production in 2004 was 703,000 tonnes and was projected to be 747,000 tonnes in 2005. Since then, reforms to the European Union (EU) sugar regime saw a steep cut in prices and the ending of preferences. This was one of the key factors in sugar production ending in several parts of the Caribbean.
According to a press release on Tuesday from the SAC, the Directors meeting was held at the close of the Barbados sugar crop which was impacted by irregular weather. The other SAC members also experienced similar conditions, resulting in reduced sugar production. Projected exports to the EU, according to the media bulletin, are 195,000 tonnes. In 2005, projected exports to the EU were 462,000 tonnes. Tuesday’s press release said that Guyana and Belize have both begun exporting some bagged sugar to the EU market in the light of changing market conditions. The statement also said that SAC continues as a reliable supplier to the US market by maximizing its quota allocation, as members ship the full amount whose value is currently higher than that obtained in the EU.
According to the SAC release, its members continue with their efforts to supply the Caricom market with both brown and white sugar. Guyana, Jamaica and Belize have been supplying the region with brown sugar for domestic consumption and intra-regional trade is projected at 26,000 tonnes. SAC urged the Caricom Secretariat to ensure that the application of the 40 percent Common External Tariff on extra regional brown sugar is adhered to by all member states.
Belize has been producing and supplying processors in its domestic market, including soft drink manufacturers, with plantation white sugar, which is classified as refined sugar, the SAC bulletin noted. Belize has expressed an interest in supplying the demands of the Caricom market, while Jamaica and Guyana have stated their intention to produce refined sugar in the very near future.
The West Indies Central Cane Sugarcane Breeding Station, the press release stated is now fully functional as a separate entity, with new members and an injection of additional funding. The facility is now in an expansion mode in its breeding programme.
The members of SAC also held discussions, the media release said, about the attacks by uninformed groups and persons that sugar is toxic and hence unhealthy. SAC members noted that there was no scientific basis for these attacks and that studies carried out in other countries pointed to the fact that unhealthy lifestyles, and not sugar, is the main cause of obesity. The Guyana Sugar Corporation was represented at the meeting by Chief Executive Officer, Errol Hanoman.
