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For several months now, we’ve been telling you about the important meeting of the Caribbean Ministers of Trade at the Council for Trade and Economic Development or COTED for short. 

It is an important decision-making arm of CARICOM that specifically oversees the Caribbean trade market, and the major players in Belize’s sugar industry were eagerly anticipating that it would take the necessary steps to promote the trade of regionally produced sugar within the Caribbean. 

Well, a press release from the Sugar Association of Caribbean, of which Belize is a member, says that last month’s COTED meeting saw positive developments.

The SAC press release says, quote, â€œSAC agreed to accelerate investment to produce higher quantities of quality, food-grade sugar…â€￾  End quote.

The release says that Belize and Guyana have already begun significant investment programs to meet the CARICOM demand for sugar. They say that collectively, all the region’s producers already produce double the amount of sugar needed to meet CARICOM’s needs. But two-thirds of that annual demand is filled with sugar produced by countries outside the region, that not only aren’t subjected to market tariffs but actually forces CARICOM producers out of their own market.

The release adds, â€œSAC also discussed the continuing importation of brown sugar from outside the region without full application of the Common External Tariff. This practice has massively diluted the value of the regional market for regional sugar producers. COTED agreed this practice should stop forthwith. A new monitoring mechanism of sugar flows, also agreed at COTED will enforce the correct use of Treaty protections moving forward... End quote.

They are anticipating that they will be able to sell around 60,000 tonnes of direct consumption sugar to non-producing countries in CARICOM in 2019-2020.