B.S.I. Says More Sugar has been Produced Between 2022 and 2023

Shawn Chavarria

According to Chavarria, it is B.S.I.’s belief that sugar is being sold to Mexico by Belize and Guatemala.  The Director of Finance says that an additional two thousand tons of sugar was milled between October 2022 and September 2023.

Shawn Chavarria, Director of Finance, B.S.I.

“We believe both.  We believe that there could be product moving via Guatemala that’s making its way on to the Mexico market because that’s where the price is the highest.  And so it could be, Guatemala does share a large border with Mexico and it could be that, you know, that’s another area or transit point that sugar is making its way into the Mexican market because there the prices are even higher than it is in Guatemala.  So we believe it could be both countries where the leakages are occurring. Comparing to last year, we sold approximately ten thousand tons of plantation white sugar on the domestic market between the period of October 2021 to September 2022.  And then, when we compare it to the period, October 2022 to September 2023, we sold just over twelve thousand tons of plantation white sugar.  So that’s an increase of two thousand tons, or the twenty percent that I mentioned.  Of that, perhaps maybe, you know, fifteen to maybe twenty percent is genuine increase in demand in Belize because of the economy recuperating, more demand from manufacturers but we believe that perhaps maybe fifteen hundred tons of that is maybe making its way across the border. In terms of what can be done, what we have tried to do internally is reach out to customers who have been reporting that they can’t get product to find out where there traditional supplier or who supplies them with product and see how best we can try to fill the gap.  But we also know that there are reports that the sugar makes its way into supermarkets and from there, there are people who are picking up to buy wholesale to then, perhaps, take it across the border, but we don’t have that visibility into what happens when sugar leaves our gate.”