Posted: Thursday, December 28, 2023. 9:54 pm CST.
By Aaron Humes: Negotiations are ongoing, as they have been for the better part of a few years, on the signing of a commercial agreement between Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA) and Belize Sugar Industries/American Sugar Refining (BSI/ASR).
There remains an impasse over the payment of Fairtrade premiums, which BSI/ASR says is the provenance of Tate and Lyle Sugars (TLS), which has the Fairtrade license. The BSCFA says it is owed two years’ worth of such premiums and wants BSI to take over payments, which BSI/ASR says it legally cannot do.
But a possible agreement is closer tonight following reports that the two sides which have rarely agreed on much appear to agree on a two-year agreement, which BSCFA said is a prerequisite for its members starting to deliver cane. Until then, their members are not being tempted by the ‘Open Agreement’ on the table from the millers.
In any event, the crop started with trucks lining up outside the Tower Hill factory this morning at 10 a.m. There was heavy police presence both at checkpoints up and down the Philip Goldson Highway and alongside the BSCFA’s protest walk through the streets of Orange Walk Town, including a pass of the Prime Minister’s residence.
Director of Finance for BSI/ASR Shawn Chavarria says the mill will start slowly through no fault of its own: “The mill has, along with the power plant, two boilers and two turbines. So if we don’t get the cane from the BSCFA it means we only operate with one boiler and one turbine. So we’ll be milling at fifty percent capacity. It’s not ideal, but at least we get the crop going and get the cane in because we do need to start producing sugar. We do have contractual commitments that we need to meet and therefore something is better than nothing, in our view.”
That “something” is coming from the other three associations who themselves are getting tired of the back-and-forth dance between the BSCFA and BSI/ASR: the Corozal Sugar Cane Producers Association, Progressive Sugar Cane Farmers Association and Northern Sugar Cane Growers Association (NSCGA). Between them and BSI/ASR itself, they control 50 percent of production. CSCPA President Vladimir Puck told reporters, “On behalf of the CSCPA, I can clearly state that my cane farmers are ready to start to bring in their trucks. At the moment, they are loading. Some of them have a little late start but let’s hope the weather holds up and they manage to load.”
Meanwhile in Sugar City, having received the backing of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB), the BSCFA and its chairman Elvis Reyes insisted that BSI/ASR would not get away with trying to subvert their membership: “We are protesting because we want a fair commercial agreement for all of our farmers. We don’t want BSI to continue taking advantage of our farmers. …It is surely effective because we can see the delivery today is not all the farmers that are there delivering. BSCFA is not delivering, plus we have farmers from other associations that are supporting us in not delivering, plus we have the unions joined with us and all the people of Belize.”
The crop is expected to last for the next six months, or until the available cane supply is exhausted or a commercial agreement that lets the BSCFA in is signed.
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The post As 2023-2024 sugar season begins, last throw of the dice for commercial agreement between BSI/ASR and BSCFA appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Posted: Thursday, December 28, 2023. 9:54 pm CST. By Aaron Humes: Negotiations are ongoing, as they have been for the better part of a few years,
The post As 2023-2024 sugar season begins, last throw of the dice for commercial agreement between BSI/ASR and BSCFA appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
