Tonight, the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association and the millers, ASR/BSI, are no closer to resolving their differences so that a commercial agreement can be signed in time for the start of the new crop season, which is now only a few weeks away.
Last Thursday, you heard the robust rebuttal from the ASR executive, "Mac" McLachlan. He was responding to the new head of the BSCFA, who said that BSI/ASR wasn't treating the appointment of a mediator with the appropriate level of urgency.
Well, the BSCFA head table today took a third bite at that cherry in an extended press conference held at their Orange Walk office.
Here's what their CEO had to say about the procedures that the two sides agreed they would use to appoint a mediator in their protracted dispute:
The BSCFA head table turned to the chairman of their Finance Committee to express their frustration at the assertions from the millers that they have not provided an adequate economic justification for their counter-proposal as to why the commercial agreement isn't fair and equitable to their membership.
Here's Javier Keme's main argument against that position:
He also challenged the millers on their views that the reason their profit margins are so low is that they need to increase their efficiency in the amount of cane produced for every acre of land under cultivation. Here are those counterpoints:
ASR/BSI has scheduled a press event for tomorrow at their Tower Hill factory, and most likely, they will want to respond to some of the comments made in today's press conference. We'll tell you about that in tomorrow's newscast.
