And while the wet condition of the cane fields, and the mud on the cane are the drivers of this stoppage - the subtext its that the always problematic sugar roads remain nearly impassable. It's a chronic problem that can only be addressed with long term infrastructure upgrades - but - from one Government to another, seasonal fixes are the order of the day. Neal discussed that today:
William A. Neal, Communications, ASR/BSI
"We have seen, you know, a neglect when it comes to the roads themself for, you know, decades. So this is nothing new. And if we're leaving it until the last minute to repair the roads, then that's obviously we'll have this challenge that we cannot then make any difference to the road conditions themselves. But it doesn't mean that farmers are in a better position either to extract the cane. The fields are wet. They've been wet for a long time. And this pause gives us an opportunity for hopefully a drying out. What we're all praying for is definitely some better, weather conditions that will allow the fields to dry out the roads to also dry out habitat, maybe get some repairs, from the government and, for the factory to get a break."
The good news for right now is that domestic sugar supplies will not get interrupted - but the stoppage may affect Belize's exports of Direct Consumption Sugars.
Notably, last year's sugar crop had two stoppages.
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