Sugar shortages are back - and again it's because Belize's sugar supply is being smuggled to Mexico.
A press release from ASR/BSI says, quote, "It appears that sugar is not readily available even though BSI has increased the amount of sugar sold on the domestic market compared to the same period last year.
This indicates that despite making more product available domestically that the illicit cross border sugar trade continues to be on the upswing." End quote.
And what's fueling the cross border trade of sugar is that Belize's white sugar is cheaper than Mexico's or Guatemala's.
With that AR/BSI says it has written to the Government of Belize, quote, "once more to urge Cabinet to review and increase the price of domestic sugar. The wide disparity between domestic prices and regional prices, combined with production shortages particularly in Mexico is creating a lucrative incentive for sugar to be smuggled outside of Belize. Until and unless this price disparity matter is addressed, Belize will continue to see pressure on its domestic sugar supplies."
