Dear Editor,
The title says it all. Due to a shortfall of beet sugar in the USA, which was caused by weather and other factors beyond the control of growers in that country, there is now a need to increase the level of cane sugar being imported into the USA by four million tonnes! This will be either a missed opportunity for GuySuco or an opportunity to reopen key facilities such as Enmore and Skeldon with the others to follow.
Lack of good inventory planning and supply and demand considerations have led to poor foresight in our sugar industry. There is no reason why we have a current shortfall in production with excess planting capacity vs. the production capacity currently online. Hopefully, a two to three-year long term agreement will be negotiated with the refineries in the USA at a profitable price to allow for bringing our dormant capacity back online. If this is not done quickly, the Brazilians and Mexicans will take the business and continue to develop their sugar industry. The call to our laid off sugar workers in the sugar belt should be “great news, time to get back to work!”
Yours faithfully,
Jamil Changlee
