B.S.I Announces Record Cane Price Earned for Cane Farmers Associations

The American Sugar Refinery/Belize Sugar Industries Limited (A.S.R/B.S.I) issued a press release today, informing of a record cane price that was distributed to all the cane farmers’ associations with whom it conducts business. The price of eighty-six dollars and twenty-eight cents per ton of cane is a new record for B.S.I. The last record high occurred eight years ago in 2015, when the price then was ten dollars less per ton. This latest accomplishment is a sign of positivity in the industry. But the new price also reflects a combination of factors, according to B.S.I.’s Director of Finance, Shawn Chavarria.

Shawn Chavarria

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

“One, the global market prices for sugar has been on the higher end, but combined with that, we have been making, as we’ve been highlighting in previous year’s, strategic investments to improve the value of our sugar. These value added or direct consumption sugars, as we call them, attract a better price, compared to raw sugar, and so we get better value for the sugar that we produce. And similarly, the investment in Big Creek to modernize our logistics systems has been resulting in savings for ocean freight and other shipping costs. So the added value plus the savings in logistics costs are also helping to improve the value for the sugar and therefore key in prices to farmers, given the fact that for our commercial agreement. If we can get a higher value for sugar, or lower or logistics costs, the farmers share in that.”