CDB grant to facilitate CARICOM research on plantation white sugar

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will be providing a US$97,000 grant to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to facilitate a study on the substituting of plantation white sugar for refined sugar, in the region’s manufacturing sector.

“We import two-thirds of the estimated 320,000 tonnes of the refined sugar consumed annually within CARICOM. If plantation white can be substituted for refined white sugar, regional producers can capture a larger share of the sugar market and the Region can save considerable foreign exchange. The findings of this study will provide, therefore, data needed to make critical investment decisions for the sugar industry,” CDB’s Director of Projects, Daniel Best stated.

A CDB release noted that the findings of the research will enhance the capacity of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to make decisions on CARICOM’s sugar regime, and will also “contribute to a wider exercise being undertaken by the Customs Committee of the COTED to comprehensively review the Common External Tariff, to facilitate the transition to the free circulation of goods and a more modernised application of rule of origin”.

It was also noted that the Project is in keeping with the Bank’s Technical Assistance Policy and Operational Strategy, and consistent with the CDB’s objectives of supporting agriculture and rural development and promoting evidence-based policy making as a tenet of good governance.

The release pointed out that Barbados, Belize, Guyana and Jamaica, four sugar producing countries in the CSME, account for an average of 10 percent of earnings from sugar exports. “In Belize, Guyana and Jamaica, the industry is also a major employer in rural communities, providing an average of 16,000 direct jobs,” it stated.