Sugar divide
Publication: Sunday Sun
Paper Section And Page: 32A
Paper Date: Sun, Jan 28, 2001
Category: News
Byline:
TWO LEADING FIGURES of the sugar industry locked horns yesterday over the proposed construction of a new state-of-the-art sugar factory at either Bulkeley, St. George or Portvale, St. James.
On one side was Senator Keith Laurie. On the other, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cave.
In a heated discussion Laurie, president of the Barbados Society of Technologists in Agriculture (BSTA), blasted the suggested move by Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cave, chairman of the Barbados Sugar Industry Limited (BSIL), saying it would be a waste of time and money since the production of raw sugar in Barbados had an uncertain future.
Laurie, told members of his organisation gathered at the Island Inn Hotel, St. Michael, for its annual general meeting that to support such a step was "indefensible".
"The BSTA held a think tank and we found that there was no future in producing raw sugar to ship to Europe to be refined for them to sell it back to us as granulated sugar at a higher cost. We are losing $500 on every ton of raw sugar we produce. It is clear that the market for raw sugar is falling world-wide and it looks as though it will keep falling," Laurie emphasised, adding that there needed to be some diversification in the industry if it was to survive.
He said rum and other by-products of sugar cane provided much more viable alternatives.
However, Cave said building the new plant would ensure a stable future for the industry.
"We have to subsidise in order to keep agriculture and sugar in Barbados. Other countries have done it. Putting $20 million a year into the sugar industry is chicken feed. To say that raw sugar is not viable or that we shouldn't build a new factory is to take on a defeatist attitude. The only viable agricultural product in the world is drugs," retorted Cave.
He said a co-generation plant, estimated to cost US$75 million to construct, would produce twice the amount of sugar and would produce its own electricity by burning either bagasse, liquid gas or coal - coal being a last alternative because of environmental concerns.