We also asked McLachlan if the sudden push to send sugar west is perhaps the first in what could be a series of forays to erode ASR/BSI's hold on the market:
Jules Vasquez "Is this perhaps a trial balloon being floated by those in the government who are sympathetic to another legitimate investor SANTANDER and might it not be foreseeable that we might see their sugars on the local market competing against yours?"
Mac McLachan - VP, International Relations ASR Group "Well, it's a good question Jules and again I can't answer for the government on that but I do know the value of the domestic market and of the small allocations we get to send to the US is an extremely valuable part of the cane price for our farmers in the north. The domestic plantation white sugar that we sell in the market here is sold at a reasonable price and that brings in a big premium that worth to farmers around 7 dollars a ton of their cane price and similarly with the domestic market, it's worth a lot as well. I can't speak for what further stint there may be down the road in that regard but I know that the farmers benefit from the domestic market and from that small coalition in the US market"
