Minister Mai: We Need to Adjust the Price of Sugar Locally

Will the government adjust the prices of sugar that are sold locally? That is the question that cane farmers, pastry makers and restaurateurs are probably asking. The prices of Belize’s sugar sold locally, both white and brown, have been blamed for the high contraband activity of the product, resulting in sugar being smuggled into neighbouring countries. The rationale has been that because the price of white sugar sells for only seventy-five cents per pound and brown sugar sells for fifty cents per pound, they are being smuggled across the borders for far higher returns to the distributors. So prior to the Christmas holidays, most of the shelves that should have been stacked with sugar were empty. Minister of Agriculture, Jose Abelardo Mai is of the view that it is time that the prices of Belize’s sugar are adjusted locally in order to balance that disparity in prices on the regional market and thereby reducing the problem of contraband.

Jose Abelardo Mai

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“I think there’s some deficiency with  There is some weakness  in the  policy. When you have sugar being sold at 75 cents maximum and in Mexico, Guatemala, it is $2.50 a pound. Others say there will be contraband. It doesn’t matter what you do. The sugar will be leaked out. We have porous borders.  When you have the price of sugar in Mexico, in Guatemala being three times the price in Belize, you ask the question, how are farmers able to produce and sell sugar at $2.50 a pound? It’s ridiculous. The farmers and the industry are subsidizing the rest of the consumer population, which I believe is unfair. So at some point we have to start thinking, how do we correct it? And I believe the way to correct it is, we must make adjustments to the price, though, as to how much,  and when, is another matter.”