As we reported a month ago, it was a record year for sugar production. 1.317 million tonnes of cane were milled, which is 4,000 tonnes more than the previous record. That produced 144,000 tonnes of sugar, which is also a record.
But, world sugar prices have also been trending near record lows - and so the payments to farmers haven’t been setting any records. Â
The second payment was paid today based on a price of $47.55 per tonne. The second payment represents 91% of that. For many farmers it’s too little - they are calling it “excessively lowâ€. For others, it’s an improvement, but still not enough to keep their operations going. Here’s what Fred Ortega of the BSCFA said:
Fred Ortega - BSCFA
"I am in a test group of 13 people. It consists of farmers from Orange Walk, San Jose, and San Roman. It also includes some farmers from Douglas. We are receiving $8.08 today in terms of the second payment."
Reporter
"How is this price compared to the price from previous years?"
Fred Ortega
"Actually if we compare it to last year’s it’s much better. Because last year the group of us only got $4.99 for the second payment. This time we’re getting $8.08 which puts us at around a $3.00 difference from last year. However at the moment with the costs of operations even though we are getting $8.08, It’s still very low for the amount of cane we’ve delivered in this crop."
Critics say the prices are already low, and the payment is made lower by the high costs of Local Handling and Ocean Freight.Â
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