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We found out from ASR/BSI that it was a very good year:..

Olivia Avilez, Farmer's Relations Mgr., ASR/BSI
"So today at 5:55am we received the last cane truck for the season 2018-2019. we set out to mill 1.3 million tons on cane and we are very happy that we achieve that target. So we ended up with 1.317 million tons and that is a new record for us. Our last record on cane milling was in 2016 and it was 1.314. So we are 4,000 tons of cane above our record and we are also above 11,000 tons of sugar above our last record in 2017 for 144,000 tons of sugar. So also we are above record for direct consumption sugars."

Reporter
"Is this indicative that you all are receiving a higher yield of sugar from the same volume of tons insofar as either the sugar has a higher sucrose value or that it has less mud, that type of thing?"

Olivia Avilez
"Certainly, the cane that we are receiving from farmers which is 90% of the cane is sweeter, so yes. This year it was sweeter and a number of factors are important there. 1) the weather conditions were dry. With dryer weather conditions it concentrates the sugar better. So that was favourable, but also the farmers have done a tremendous job to ensure the quality of cane is there. Once we are delivered quality cane, the factory then has the priority to extract the maximum amount of sugar from that cane and that is what we called mill efficiency and that is our focus at BSI at the moment. It is about sugar. We need to take out the maximum amount of sugar of the same cane you brought in."

Reporter
"With this record harvest and record yield, do we have record earnings?"

Olivia Avilez
"In terms of price we know that we are definitely in the global market and we have to go by that. It is not business as usual in the sugar industry. We are not enjoying - this is post October 2017 that we were talking so much about. We are not in the same position we were back then. Sugar cane price we are finalizing the numbers on what cane was milled. There are several factors that play into the cane estimates. we are still at estimates point. The cane supply numbers that we have today is one element. The next element are the different types of sugar we were able to produce, the cane to tons sugar that we were able to attain and definitely the process of each type of sugar and the types of molasses as well. So all of that needs to play in the estimate. We are finalizing that. Unfortunately, I cannot give you numbers because we are still in that process, but the cane price estimate will come out shortly, maybe in the next week or two and that's when we are able to say exact numbers. In general, it is going to be positive, because of the direct consumption sugars investments, the cane supply and the good quality."

And while production of regular and direct consumption sugar increased - the CARICOM market continues to be a problem. You'll hear about the efforts to penetrate that market tomorrow.