BSI announces highest sugar cane prices ever; will generate approximately $20 million, $6 million more than 2022

By Rubén Morales Iglesias: Despite a smaller crop season, Belize Sugar Industries/ASR (BSI) announced record sugarcane that surpassed last year’s by $15.50 generating $5.9 million more than last year for Belize’s economy.

“BSI informed the cane farmers’ associations that the final cane price for the 2023 crop is $86.28 per ton of cane,” said a BSI press release issued on Monday.

“The previous record was $75.89 in 2015 and compared to last crop is $15.50 per ton cane higher.”

According to those numbers, the final cane price last year was $70.78.

BSI said sugar cane farmers in Northern Belize will have more money in their pockets due to increased global market prices and BSI’s strategic investments that have transformed the industry and led to the record cane price.

According to the northern sugar company, the EU sugar market deregulation in 2017 had a negative impact on the cane prices, but BSI did not give up and continued to invest in the mill and the shipping logistics to improve the sustainability of the northern industry.

“Under the current commercial agreement, farmers directly benefit from increased market prices, production of value-added sugars, and logistics savings, all of which contribute to the improved cane price,” BSI said.

“Although cane supply was lower this crop by 164,000 metric tons, the record cane price will result in $19.7 million being circulated into the northern economy which is $5.9 million higher than last year.”

(Sugar cane prices graph courtesy BSI)

BSI said the company expects a smooth start for the upcoming crop season, which is planned to begin in mid-December. But while the company also hopes that the cane prices will remain favorable, it urged sugar cane farmers to invest in their cane fields to increase their productivity and reduce their costs.

BSI and two of the sugar cane farmer associations are also hopeful that the industry can generate more income locally and have asked Government to increase brown and plantation white sugar by $0.25. But with the rate of inflation, consumers, who aren’t particularly happy complaining that sugar is scarce in the store shelves due the commodity being smuggled to Guatemala and Mexico, aren’t looking forward to having to fish out more money out of their depleted pockets to satisfy their sweet cravings.

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