In May of last year, the Santander Sugar Group got into trouble with the Ministry of Trade after pictures emerged showing that their plantation white sugar, was being sold on the domestic market.
That caused an uproar from cane farmers in the north, who complained bitterly that they should not be facing competition on the local market from a company that is not licensed to sell its sugar to Belizean consumers. Since then, the company has apologized, and they were handed the maximum punishment that the Export Processing Zone Committee could order against them for the violation of the EPZ regulations.
That incident has not earned them any friends with the cane farmers in the north. But for the most part, apart from two major missteps they had which made the evening news, not much is known about this group of companies and their 500-million-dollar investment in the Cayo District.
So, the management of the Santander Group decided that they wanted to remove some of the mystery about who they are, and what the scope of their enterprise is in Belize. This morning, they hosted an information-sharing session with the media, and 7News attended.
Here's what Santander's executives had to say about their operations in the Meditation area of the Cayo District, which is located just outside of Valley of Peace Village.
David Rodriguez - CFO, Santander Group
"Our origin is we started as cane growers, but we always had the vision of developing an industry that is vertically integrated, operate a sugar mill, and the agricultural operations. We have the opportunity of being here, develop this legacy, and continue the legacy of our father here in Belize."
"As you know, we are a group of investors, a mainly family-owned company, and mainly, it is run by the family also. We established a group of Belizean companies that operate a sugar mill, operate the agricultural area and cane plantation, and also operate a cogeneration plant facility that produces electricity, renewable energy, and sells it to the national grid."
"We are here in Belize to give back and to add to the industry. We are here to help the industry, and to position the industry as a leader in the region, and to get more competitiveness, and benefit all the stakeholders that participate in the industry. As you know, sometimes it's difficult to accept change, especially in a traditional industry, that has been doing traditional activities for more than 100 years. We are innovating, and implementing some activities that are different from what this industry is normally accustomed to, especially in the harvesting operations. We are the only company from Mexico to Panama, including the Caribbean, that uses mechanical harvesting for 100% of the cane."
Jose Rodriguez - CEO, Santander Group
"To make a comparison with the sugar mill in the north, the factory is about the same size. The company has been increasing the area of production. Right now, we have 22,000 acres in production, we're aiming to get at least 40,000 acres to be able to have a sustainable operation. In the north, they have 62,000 acres in production. So, we're gonna have half of what they plant."
"We produce the sugar cane. From the sugar cane, we process it in the sugar mill. We produce the sugar, and from that sugar, we also get bagasse, which is a fiber that can be burned in the boiler to produce the energy that we used, and also, the excess energy is sold to the grid, and we produce 10% of the total energy that Belize consumes. We also produce the molasses that is used for other things like, ethanol and animal feed."
"We are not a competition with the farmers or the sugar mill in the north. We have a lot of synergies that we can work together and make Belize a very efficient country in sugar cane production and sugar. We are here to be able to work together and to be able to get better results for the industry."
So, Santander been conducting commercial operations in Belize for about 8 years now. During that time, they've had to the same struggles that BSI/ASR and the cane farmers in the north have been facing when trying to sell their sugar on the European market. Up until last year, the world market price for sugar had plummeted due to the over-saturation of the market with sugar from the larger sugar-producing nations.
We asked them to discuss that challenge, as well as their reasons for choosing Belize as the home country for their multi-million-dollar investment:
Reporter
"Why did you guys choose Belize as the home for Santander Sugars? You guys could have chosen many other countries. Why Belize?"
Jose Rodriguez - CEO, Santander Group
"Well, at the end of the day, we are a family-owned company. Like, David says, sometimes they relate the name to the big bank company, which I would like to have their pocket, but we don't. So, to answer your question, we went to different countries seeking for a place to establish this operation. In the end, we ended up being here. The thing is when you want to go one way, and God wants you to go to the other way, starts opening doors where things are better, and for the process. We found a place very good for sugarcane production. We found all the conditions that were evaluated and compared to different parts of the world, we saw an opportunity of developing an industry here that has been developing in other countries. We're not inventing anything. We're just working hard and applying the technologies available."
Reporter
"Where does Santander export its products to? And how successful have commercial operations been last year, per se?"
David Rodriguez - CFO, Santander Group
"Definitely, we have taken a big hit in the prices with the liberalization of water productions of sugar beet within Europe. We are doing - last year we did 25% of our market, of our production, we exported into the CARICOM. This is a very big increase because starting from zero, in 1 year, we got a share of 25% of our production. And I think we are the sugar mill has one of the most important shares in that market. Obviously, the other 75% of the production was sold into the European market. Conditions have changed in Europe, and as you know, the big sugar companies in Europe have been taking big hits in their profits, so production volumes have been decreasing, and prices have been getting better and better. Premiums over the world market price have increased significantly. So, we're still gonna continue to export to Europe and increasing our share in the Caribbean."
We'll have a little more from today's talks with Santander in tomorrow's newscast.
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