– say changes needed to save thousands of jobs

MORE than two-thirds of the sugar consumed within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Region comes from extra-regional sources and the regional producers are urging those in authority to implement policies to address the issue, while at the same time, saving thousands of jobs.
The appeal was made by members of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean (SAC) at their recent 170th Board of Directors meeting held earlier this month in Belize, a release from the body stated. The members of the SAC are the Barbados Agricultural Management Company, Belize Sugar Industries Limited; Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc., and The Sugar Manufacturing Corporation Of Jamaica Ltd.

The Belize meeting focused on the future of regional sugar supply and the SAC noted that 18 months after changes removed market preferences for CARICOM sugar in Europe, regional producers are still looking for solutions within its own regional market. The SAC noted that sugar industries across the Region are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to match quality and supply to regional demand.

The sugar imports are displacing market opportunity for over 200,000 metric tonnes of CARICOM sugar, which is forced onto the low-value global market, the association said.
The association says policy changes are required to secure the integration of the sugar market within the CARICOM Single Market & Economy (CSME). It stated that the failure to achieve this threatens a major agricultural sector of the Region’s economy, hundreds of thousands of Caribbean jobs, and questions the effectiveness of the single market in meeting its stated objectives.

“CARICOM industries investments are set to deliver to market nearly 300,000 metric tonnes of food-grade sugar within the next 18 months, matching the Region’s demand,” the release stated. R. Karl James, chairman of the SAC, called the need for change “immediate and urgent.”

“SAC Directors are squarely focused on how regional integration can benefit industrial users and consumers of sugar through competitive longer-term pricing strategies, which are not directly impacted by cyclical global sugar price surges,” James said.

He also said, “the utilisation of regional sugar in most of our products would reduce this risk alongside the processing and import costs associated with importing sugar from outside the Region. This would bring CARICOM in line with other regional sugar markets.”
As part of its plans to address the issue, the SAC Board said in the coming months, it is calling for further discussion between sugar producers and users to find a pathway to achieve this mutually beneficial outcome.

“A part of the solution must be the correct implementation of the existing treaty (Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas) processes, in particular for brown sugar, which has seen a marked erosion in value in recent months. SAC members continue to dialogue with their respective governments, sugar users and the CARICOM Secretariat to find solutions,” James said.
In terms of the CARICOM market, it was noted that over the next 12-18 months, SAC industries would have the capacity to supply the regional market with 280,000 tonnes of direct consumption and plantation white sugar as investments are currently taking place to increase capacity.

The association says additional lands are being brought into cane production that would increase sugar production and that in one member state, storage and shipping has increased to accommodate larger vessels of up to 30,000 metric tonnes.
Regionally, the members of the SAC are projected to produce around 450,000 metric tonnes of sugar for the 2018/19 crop.

Europe producers also benefit from exporting sugar to Europe and it was noted that to date, the Region has exported 133,000 tonnes of sugar to the European Union (EU) market at global market prices. But there are some concerns. The SAC said that extra-regional duty-free imports are being dumped into the CARICOM market at less than half the value they achieve in their home markets.

In terms of the United States market, the SAC says regional industries will ship all of the quotas allocated by the United States (43,175 metric tonnes) under the Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ), representing less than 10 per cent of production.
At a recent meeting, regional producers requested and are expected to receive additional quotas for the 2018/19 marketing year, the release said.