Regional Demand for Brown Sugar Almost Doubles

Earlier this week, members of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean (SAC) met virtually to discuss matters pertaining to sugar production in the region. Mac McLachlan, the Director and Country Manager for Belize Sugar Industries Limited (B.S.I.), was present in the meeting as a member of the board of directors. During the meeting, directors noted an increase in demand for regional brown sugar. Following a recent Caribbean Court of Justice ruling, in a lawsuit brought by the Government of Belize against the Government of Trinidad and Tobago over an alleged breach of Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, the demand for brown sugar in the region has almost doubled. 

William Neal

William Neal, Communications Officer, SAC

“The demand has always been there; I think the way the market is set up, it’s split in two. There’s the refined sugar and then there’s brown sugar. CARICOM producers are more than capable of supplying the brown sugar needs for CARICOM all of CARICOM. What has happened, because you had the split in the way things operate a lot of countries would then ask for white sugar when there’s a brown sugar need. But because of the monitoring for lack thereof, they would actually go ahead and bring in you know, brown sugar in some cases. And so that was what we were trying to prove that the amount of brown sugar coming in, you know, should not happen because we’re protected under the Treaty of Chaguaramas. So this, with the statement made by the courts, what it has done is making that opportunity real. So, you know, people are, purchasing brown sugars, and we’ve seen incremental, you know, almost doubling of sugar annually since we’ve had that ruling. And for the sugar producers, that is extremely good news. It excites us, and it means that there’s incentive there for us to invest to supply the market with quality brown sugar.”