BSI/ASR Announces Record Payouts for Belize Cane Farmers Despite Production Drop

Cane farmers will collectively be seeing payouts of almost six million dollars more for sugar cane than they did last year, according to Belize Sugar Industries. BSI/ASR issued a statement today noting that while cane production had dropped by a hundred and sixty-four thousand tons when compared to last year, the payout was still five point nine million dollars higher. The company explains that the deregulation of sugar in the European Union contributed to a shift in the world market price allowing farmers to make a record high of eighty-six dollars and twenty-eight cents per ton of cane. That’s fifteen dollars and fifty cents higher than last year and more than ten dollars above the last record high prices, which was seventy-five dollars and eighty-nine cents back in 2015. BSI says that under its current arrangement, cane farmers directly benefit from not only the increased market prices but also the production of value-added sugars, and logistics savings, all of which contribute to the improved cane price. The company has urged farmers to use the increased earnings to invest in their fields to improve their sugarcane yields to counter the falling production.