UK Renews Sugar Import Agreement with Belize, Securing Continued Market Access for 2025

There’s good news for Belize’s sugar export industry as the UK has recommitted to importing 260,000 tonnes of raw Belizean cane sugar at a 0% tariff rate. Yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Trade announced that the United Kingdom will renew its current Autonomous Tariff Quota (ATQ) for raw cane sugar, ensuring continued market access for Belize’s sugar exports. The decision means there will be no expansion of access for suppliers outside the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS), safeguarding Belize’s position in the UK market for 2025. Today, Minister of Francis Fonseca Francis Fonseca explained that the government had been working with the UK for some time to ensure the agreement was renewed. 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs: “Good news. Very good news for Belize. It means that the status quo remains. That Belize will continue to be able to export its sugar under the same existing terms and conditions at least for another few years. I think it’s four years or so. So that was something we were concerned about because there were moves in some corners to try to really remove that favorable status and extend it to other countries. And so it’s very important. We did a lot of work in that regard you know my predecessor Minister Courtenay did a lot of important work advancing that issue and we have done so over the last year and so we’re very happy that the UK government and parliament has approved that process to continue.”

Additionally, the government says the country’s sugar exports will also benefit from duty-free and quota-free access as part of the CARIFORUM-UK Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).