By Balford Henry, Acting News Editor
James and Morrison
JAMAICA WILL have to import 20,000 tonnes of sugar from Belize and Guyana this year, at a cost of $316 million, to satisfy the domestic market.
This has resulted from a 37,000-tonne shortfall projected for this year's production.
Karl James, general manager of Jamaica Cane Products Sales, confirmed yesterday that the target for this year's crop, 212,000 tons, has been revised to 175,000 tonnes.
Mr. James said that the company would have to import some 20,000 tonnes of sugar from Belize and Guyana for the domestic market to meet the shortfall. He declined to state the exact price for the imported sugar, but said that it would be over US$0.12 per pound. However, The Gleaner understands that the price is likely to be approximately US$0.15 per pound, which would cost the country about US$6.6 million ($316 million).
At this price, there would be no need for an increase in the domestic price, however.
The fallout in sugar production has been attributed mainly to the inadequate supply of sugar cane to factories.
Vincent Morrison, National Workers' Union island supervisor, said the shortfall stemmed from a perennial problem, of "not dealing properly with the raw material, which is the sugar cane." He blamed the cane farmers who produce about 52 per cent of the cane used for sugar locally, and the factories which produce the other 48 per cent.
At June 30, Jamaica had produced 162,854 tonnes of sugar, of which approximately
150,000 tonnes were exported to the European Market. The rest was sold locally.
However, the major CARICOM exporter so far has been Guyana, with 314,531 tonnes
of which 243,577 tonnes went to the EU, 46,187 tonnes to its CARICOM partners
and 12,094 to the United States.
But while Astill Sangster, spokesman for the All-Island Jamaica Cane Farmers'
Association, admitted that there was a need to grow more cane, he also blamed
inefficiencies at the factories, including poor management and outdated equipment,
especially at the factories run by the Government, as also responsible.
"A sugar factory really doesn't make sugar, it extracts the sugar from
the sugar cane," Robert Henriques, Sugar Producers of Jamaica chairman,
responded.
Mr. Henriques explained that private factories like Appleton Estate which he
manages, as head of Wray & Nephew's agricultural division, have been improving
their facilities. He said his factory was one of the most modern in the world.
However, he pointed out that heavy rainfall late last year and earlier this
year, coupled with the shortage of cane, has also affected production.
But although Mr. Henriques refused to blame the Sugar Company of Jamaica, the
Government company which operates the main factories Bernard Lodge, Frome
and Monymusk as the one which has been falling behind, his argument suggested
that the Government factories were largely responsible for the shortfall.
Mr. Sangster, however, was much more direct.
He told The Gleaner that cane farmers were so perturbed by the prospects for
the next crop as it concerned the SCJ factories, that they had demanded a meeting
with Ambassador Derrick Heaven, SCJ executive chairman, to discuss what is to
be done about the company's management structure, as well as what will be done
about the repairs and replacement of equipment to ensure a better 2002/2003
crop.
He said the SCJ had responded by inviting the cane farmers to a meeting with
its representatives today at Bernard Lodge, St. Catherine.
Prospects for improvement next year have been made even more remote by the
fact that a $150 million replanting loan which was offered by the Minister of
Finance in November to the cane farmers, has not fully materialised.
Mr. Sangster said yesterday that following the intervention of the Prime Minister
recently, "one and two" farmers had accessed the loans, but that it
was far too few and already far too late.
Many sugar factories have either ended their 2002/2003 crop or are close to
ending. The replanting has to be done at the time of reaping. Frome, for example,
has already ended its crop and is only planting some seedlings.
Neither Mr. Heaven nor any other executive of the SCJ was available for comment
yesterday. But it is accepted in the industry that the SCJ factories are those
with the greatest losses, the poorest performances and the least likely to improve
by next crop.
"I think the Sugar Company of Jamaica is trying to make some headway,
but it all boils down to money," Mr. Henriques suggested.
