Cane damage less then feared, says sugar company

The U.S. Embassy today confirmed that Belize’s annual quota for sugar exports to the United States have been renewed at roughly the same level as last year. The 2008 allotment is set at eleven thousand five hundred and eighty-three metric tons and means that those sales will receive a price significantly higher than that prevailing on the world market.

And while that quota is beneficial, Belize’s largest market remains the European Union. Interestingly, although its programme to gradually eliminate sugar subsidies means lower prices each year, the meteoric rise in the value of the Euro against the U.S. dollar has virtually erased the drop in prices because Belize gets paid in Euros.

According to Belize Sugar Industries C.E.O. Joey Montalvo, the damage to this year’s cane crop caused by Hurricane Dean has been less than originally feared and while older cane did suffer, the younger plants have recovered well. B.S.I.’s forecast is now for a crop of between one point one and one point one-five million long tons of cane to be milled into around a hundred thousand tons of sugar. Last year, due to poor cane quality and other factors, one point two-four-five million tons of cane produced only ninety-seven thousand tons of sugar.