Hobbled Hope: A vision of sugar revived


 



Regional investors in the sugar industry have advanced plans to adapt production capacity to meet the regional demands for white sugar, with an estimated 290,000 tonnes of plantation white sugar produced annually by 2020 across the region.

But, there are many challenges. The Sugar Association of the Caribbean (SAC) is campaigning for a change in the trade rules for CARICOM Governments to adopt to support industry growth

The say enforcement of a tariff on white sugar is necessary for the sector,

The solution SAC is putting forwards to CARICOM and regional governments is to strengthen the regional market for Caribbean white sugar by enforcing the Common External Tariff on imported white sugar.

They assert, “This would allow investment in production to proceed and allow regional producers to focus on supplying the needs of their natural customers - manufacturers of products like lemonade and cola in the region who are the most significant buyers of white sugar.”

Caribbean sugar, as outlined by SAC, is shipped from Guatemala, Brazil, Colombia or Mexico rather than locally produced sugar in the Caribbean. As explained ay Caribbean-sugar.org, the reasons for this are historical, and a result of longstanding preferential trade agreements with the EU, that provided regional producers with a guaranteed high market price for raw cane sugar.

These preferential arrangements came to an end in October 2017, leading to an increase in European production of beet sugar, and leaving Caribbean producers to sell their sugar at world market prices.

The solution SAC is putting forwards to CARICOM and regional governments is to strengthen the regional market for Caribbean white sugar by enforcing the Common External Tariff on imported white sugar.

This would allow investment in production to proceed and allow regional producers to focus on supplying the needs of their natural customers - manufacturers of products like lemonade and cola in the region who are the most significant buyers of white sugar.

And, even as Caribbean producers hope for robust growth in demand for natural sweeteners including cane sugar, artificial sweeteners are growing in demand.

Artificial and natural sweetener market was valued at US$25.591 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.36% over the forecast period to reach a market size of US$30.136 billion by 2028, according to knowledgesource.org

A factor driving growth o is the rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. According to WHO, in 2022, approximately 2 million deaths were associated with these diseases.

Knowledgecentre.org points out that natural sweeteners are made from plant-based materials and have fewer calories, they are better than normal sugar or artificial sweeteners. Natural sweeteners are free of carbohydrates and do not cause an increase in blood sugar levels.

In Jamaica Agriculture Minister Floyd Green indicates that the government is collaborating with private sector partners to drive growth.

Zudui Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Pan Caribbean, said his company has invested more than US$1 million in acquiring new harvesting equipment.

The sugar industry flourished during slavery and declined after abolition.’Jamaicatimeline.com outlines that the recovery of the industry during the 20th century reached its zenith in 1965 when production reached an all-time high of 514,825 tonnes. However, currently sugar contributes only one per cent to GDP in Jamaica

Now however, there are only two operating factories remaining in the country, both now only producing raw sugar due to a lack of capacity to process refined sugar.  

The SAC states that what is needed is to “Enforce a robust regional domestic market in CARICOM for regional sugar which will allow the industry to upgrade and invest in new capacity to produce sugar as required by regional industrial users more efficiently, at fair prices, securing the place of Caribbean sugar in Caribbean products.”

Photo caption: Floyd Green, Minister of Agriculture in Jamaica.

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