-want CARICOM to take necessary steps

Caribbean sugar producers have urged a review of the region’s sugar market saying that current demand can be easily met regional suppliers. by In a statement on Wednesday, the Sugar Association of the Caribbean (SAC), which represents CARICOM sugar producers, noted that on September 7th, it had issued a position paper on the regional integration of the sugar market. Traditionally, most CARICOM produced sugar is shipped to the European Union for refining, while much of the region’s demand has been met by extra-regional imported sugar.

“The paper suggests that the 300K ton demand for sugar in CARICOM can easily be met by supply from the region’s industries which produce more than 450K tons of the sweetener annually,” the statement said. It pointed out that currently around 200K tons of this demand is met from imports from non-CARICOM countries, which enjoy tariff-free access due to the differentiation of white and brown sugar under CARICOM rules.

“The paper makes the argument that review of this market distortion can produce a win-win for CARICOM sugar producers, industrial users of sugar and consumers, by creating a regional market that offers a level playing field to those manufacturing sugar-containing products,” the statement said.

It argued that a review will provide better and reliable access to regional sugar, matched by sugar industry commitments to produce the volume and quality required for the majority of production needs. The paper also says that the market presently works for brown sugar, which is fully protected by the Common External Tariff, and has encouraged a vibrant competition among CARICOM producers, driving down prices.

“It can easily do so for all sugar needs as producers adapt their production to produce white and brown sugar to a high quality,” the statement argued.

“The paper states that CARICOM sugar producers are at a disadvantage to many other regions which protect their own industries, permitting them to export their residual sugar at knock down global market prices. CARICOM producers currently have no such protection, nor access to markets offering preferential pricing on which to base investment to improve their efficiency,” the statement said.

“We see an exciting future for the region’s sugar market – where Caribbean sugar meets the majority of Caribbean demand. It is time in the true spirit of the single market for Caribbean products to contain Caribbean ingredients – especially sugar, which has been the backbone of many CARICOM agro-industries for centuries,” SAC Chairman Karl James was quoted as saying. Guyana Sugar Corporation Director Paul Bhim added: “Guyana has for many years provided sugar into the CARICOM market. We recognise the need to develop valueadded products to meet demand. For that reason Guysuco will be investing in production of Plantation White Sugars (PWS).”

At a time when the functionality of the CARICOM single market is in question, sugar is a clear example of how the community can adapt to support its industries on which hundreds of thousands of Caribbean jobs depend, the statement declared.

Godwin Hulse, Belize Agriculture Minister, echoing the views of other regional agriculture ministers, according to the statement, said “It is time to get a handle on this issue if we are going to have a sugar industry moving forward. If the single market won’t work for sugar, it won’t work for anything.”

It was noted that SAC is now awaiting the urgent convocation of the meeting of the CARICOM sugar stakeholders group by the CARICOM Secretariat as mandated by the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to share the position paper and its findings and engage with all relevant stakeholders. That meeting is mandated to take place ahead of the next COTED meeting scheduled for November 2018.