Sugar crop ends Friday; Sugar Cane Farmers’ Association says “challenging” season fell short of expectations

By Aaron Humes: Belize Sugar Industries Limited/American Sugar Refining (BSI/ASR) has announced the end of the 2021-2022 sugar cane season that began under difficult circumstances earlier this year.

An official closing event will be held on Friday morning, July 29, at the BSI Compound at Tower Hill commencing at 9:30 a.m.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the largest farmers’ association in the industry, the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers’ Association (BSCFA), Andy Westby, told us this afternoon that when the gates at Tower Hill shut at six p.m. on Friday evening, approximately 1.1 million tons of cane will have been delivered.

In most years that is a sign of a good, even great season, but Westby says a combination of challenges meant that not all farmers were able to deliver on time.

The crop was delayed several times by heavy rainfall in the North, while BSI was also operating on one boiler as a result of its air emissions control upgrade on the second boiler. That second boiler is intended to be upgraded in the off-season in time for the expected start of crop in late November/early December.

But Westby said approximately 100,000 tons of cane will be left in the field – not ideal for farmers who were expecting good money after a significant harvest.

Last reports suggested that prices and figures had improved over last year’s marks even with a late-season weather front halting deliveries and production.

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