Belize Sugar Industries Limited/American Sugar Refining’s Mac Maclachlan elected president of Sugar Association of the Caribbean

Published by BBNTEAM at May 10, 2023

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Posted: Wednesday, May 10, 2023. 9:06 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: The four regional members of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean (SAC) met on Monday virtually and elected Mac Maclachlan from Belize Sugar Industries Limited/American Sugar Refining (BSI/ASR) as chairman, succeeding Jamaica’s R. Karl James.

At its Annual General Meeting, the Directors appointed McLachlan Chairman of the Association for the remainder of the 2022-23 financial year and 2023-24. At the same time, the Directors expressed their heartfelt appreciation to the outgoing Chairman, R. Karl James of Jamaica for his consistent and sterling contributions to the regional sugar industry.

Things have “sweetened up” regionally for the sugar trade, as Guyana and Barbados are rebounding to meet their production targets and planning to increase them. Belize, meanwhile, is set to produce 126 thousand tons of sugar cane according to BSI/ASR as the crop season started more or less on time and has not been plagued by weather or production delays.

Between Jamaica, Belize, Guyana, and Barbados, the CARICOM region’s demand for brown sugar is being completely met by regional production and the Association hopes this will continue with a monitoring mechanism for sugars established to avoid a repeat of sugar from Central America sneaking in.

The Directors received an update on the Association’s proposed Work Plan. Key components of the plan are Green Energy Production, Carbon Credits and Markets, Food Security, Climate Resilience, and Integrated Pest Management among other cross-cutting areas for sugar-producing states, the regional agriculture sector, and the wider CARICOM. Members are currently conducting internal consultations, country, and company, with each member identifying priority areas for implementation. A special technical working group, with representation from each member, will meet later this month to finalize the plan and decide on the next steps to operationalize the plan based on the agreed focus areas.

The SAC says it continues to work diligently to play an active part in the Regional Agricultural Sector Plan, which aims to reduce CARICOM’s food import bill by 25 percent by the year 2025. Additionally, SAC looks forward to working with the CARICOM Special Ministerial Task Force on Food Security.

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