So while ASR BSI continues to ask the government to increase the local controlled wholesale price to bring it in line with Belize's neighbors, they say that without that - smuggling will continue because of future scarcity and high prices in Mexico:
Shawn Chavarria, Director of Finance ASR/BSI
"We have sold more sugar because we know that there is this cross border informal trade that is taking place, with sugar going to Guatemala and Mexico, where it fetches a significantly higher prices. And then more recently, we've we've had to take away sugar from more lucrative markets and selling it on the local market at much lower prices."
"So as an industry, we are again suffering because of the price and the revenue that we could earn from exporting this sugar. We're now sacrificing that because we want to keep the local market, the domestic market, fed. But that Sugar, in a sense, is being exported by others and they are reaping the benefits and rewards of it as opposed to the farmers and ourselves."
"Mexico is forecasted to have another poor crop, but means they will continue to have shortages, their prices will remain high and therefore that incentive to smuggle the sugar across the border will continue into next year."
