The Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) have agreed that the 40% Common External Tariff (CET) on extra regional refined sugar will not apply for the specific use by food and beverage manufacturers until at least 2022 when production of this item is expected to begin here.

A joint statement issued yesterday explains that following “Guyana’s National Conversation on the Treatment of Sugar in CARICOM Trade Policy” hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 24th October, 2019, GuySuCo confirmed its commitment to producing white sugar of Codex ICUMSA 45 specifications to meet the requirements of the GMSA’s manufacturers of food and beverage products.

“The Company has already sent out a request for tenders for a processing plant to produce white sugar of the required quality and colour with a target of early 2022 for first production,” the statement explains.

As a result refined sugar will continue to be exempted until such time as the white sugar produced in the region satisfies the specifications and quality required by manufacturers and is produced in sufficient quantities in the region.

At the conversation it was also generally agreed that refined white sugar should only be included on the List of Ineligibles for conditional duty exemption when regional sugar producers can demonstrate the capacity to produce white sugar at a quantity that is 75% of the regional demand and of sufficient quality required by the manufacturers of food and beverage products.

GuySuCo and GMSA have committed to working together to facilitate the continued development of the sugar industry and to meet the specific needs of the manufacturers of food and beverages in Guyana.

In this regard the GMSA emphasized that, once quality white sugar is produced and manufactured within Guyana and is available to the required specifications of the manufacturers, at a reasonably competitive price, Guyana’s manufacturers of food and beverage producers will purchase this sugar.

GMSA has also offered support to the call for a monitoring mechanism to be implemented to prevent evasion of CET on brown sugar imported into the region which affects the regional producers.

Recognizing that they are partners in the manufacturing sector and acknowledging that cooperation is vital to both parties, GuySuCo and GMSA have committed to working together on issues of mutual interest in support of advancing production and manufacturing in Guyana.

On Monday the issue of whether a 40% common external tariff (CET) will be raised against extra-regional refined sugar engaged the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM’s) Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) when the body met in Guyana for its 49th Regular Meeting.

Stabroek News was able to engage Paula Gopee-Scoon, Trade and Industry Minister of Trinidad and Tobago on the issue.

Gopee-Scoon shared that a decision on the issue of a CET against extra-regional refined sugar was expected.

“Discussions took place on the actual substitutability of plantation white sugar and naturally, countries with a manufacturing sector which is very focused on foods and beverage would have a concern,” she said.

The application to erect a 40% CET against refined sugar has been brought by Belize, which argues that the move would augur well for producers of plantation white sugar produced in that country.

Representatives from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) had previously expressed support for such a move, while the sugar sectors in Jamaica and Barbados may also derive benefits from such a decision.

GMSA Chairman, Clinton Williams had previously told Stabroek News that the GMSA’s general position remains that there must be no CET against refined sugar in favour of plantation white sugar as the two types of sugar are not the same.

Specifications and standards

However, Gopee-Scoon said on Mon-day that “Belize has to reconsider their process which is being used in the manufacturing of plantation white sugar. It is not the same process which is used in the manufacturing of refined sugar. There is no milling involved in the process that Belize does, and therefore we are honestly very firm on the matter of specifications and standards.”

The maintenance of specifications and standards, she explained, is important to Trinidad and Tobago’s manufacturing sector, particular the food and beverages sub-sector.

“Trinidad has very established manufacturing sector producing a wide range of foods and beverages, and we employ close to 60,000 overall in the manufacturing sector, with a significant amount of those in the actual food and beverages sector” Gopee-Scoon shared, adding that this has led to “consumer growth and exports”, which has enabled Trinidad and Tobago to “compete as it is with the rest of the world.”

Gopee-Scoon suggested that for Trinidad and Tobago’s competitiveness to continue, whatever decision is taken cannot negatively impact the standards and specifications it holds to be important.

“…standards are important. We must keep our standards, if we are talking exports, if we want to be competitive, so that the whole discussion features really around standards and specifications. That is the main issue for Trinidad and Tobago.”

Last month, the Jamaica Gleaner had reported that a study funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) provided evidence of the viability of replacing white sugar with plantation white. The report said that  the findings of the study was presented to interest groups in Belize from October 2nd – 4th, during which presentations were said to have been made on the long-standing use of plantation white regionally and internationally, including by large conglomerates, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé.

Williams had told Stabroek News that he had not had the benefit of reading the report.