President Ali affirms local demand for sugar will be met
Some of sugar produced by the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate (Photo sourced from President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s official Facebook page)
Some of sugar produced by the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate (Photo sourced from President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s official Facebook page)

PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali has affirmed that the local demand for sugar will be met, as the government is working to implement systems that will boost the distribution of this commodity within the coming days.

Responding to questions on the sidelines of an event on Tuesday, President Ali said that systems are being implemented to ensure that Guyanese are not met with any significant price increase once a new batch of products hit the local market.

The products he was referring to are bags of sugar being produced daily at the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) had said that the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate has a sugar production target of some 10,800 tonnes.

This new production target comes as the estate recently completed successful machinery trials following the installation of a new gearbox, which was said to be a critical part of the estate’s operation.
“They’ve [Uitvlugt] already processed I think more than 2,000 bags of sugar… what we’ll do is ensure that the Guyana Marketing Corporation secures a lot of that. So, they can help in the distribution, so there is no price gouging,” President Ali said.

Those comments come as several commodities remain in short supply around the world because of the current supply-chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Addressing comments about the supposed shortage of sugar on the local market because of reported smuggling, President Ali said he intends to have stakeholders in the security sector investigate and stop any such activities which would prevent Guyanese from having access to this necessity.

“I’ll have the security forces look at it, it is a high possibility. There are shortages all around us. There are shortages all around us so people are hunting supplies and once you go hunting supplies, you do find any way to get the supplier,” Dr. Ali said.

He further related that the government has been implementing systems to deal directly with any potential shortages or price increases in local commodities.
He reminded that apart from the government’s commitment to sugar production, systems have already been adopted to cushion the rising fuel prices which have affected countries across the world.

The high prices for fuel are due largely to the war between Russia and Ukraine. Russia is a major global supplier of oil and gas, but is facing sanctions from the US, UK, and the European Union following its invasion of Ukraine.

The government in March 2022 announced the removal of excise tax on gasoline and diesel, in a bid to cushion the impact of rising global fuel prices.

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