What we need for our sugar industry is…

Aug 27, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Many of us Guyanese are appalled at the closing down of some of the sugar estates here in Guyana by the incumbent national administration, as we know that sugar and its byproducts are still in demand on the world and local markets.
The three biggest producers of sugar are Brazil, India and the European Union.
The most common application of sugar is as a sweetener. It can be found in virtually any food nowadays, although health awareness is causing a decreasing use of sugar as a sweetener. The use of sugar in food production is not solely for its sweetening effect. It can also function as a preservative to protect certain food from spoiling.
Sugar is a major input in the production of ethanol. Due to environmental awareness, the demand for bio fuels is increasing. Sugar is becoming the popular input in this production process, as the efficiency of sugar is significantly higher than corn.
Health awareness has made a major impact on the use of sugar in food production. The numerous studies on the effect of sugar in human diets have not been entirely conclusive on the severity of the impact on human health. They do agree however that high sugar consumption can increase the chance for one or more of the following conditions: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, teeth deterioration and even Alzheimer’s disease. The awareness of these harmful effects has caused food producers to reduce sugar content levels in their products.
There are four different types of sugar contracts traded on various exchanges around the world.
Similar to many other agricultural commodities, the weather can greatly influence the supply of sugar and thus the price. Bad weather conditions can damage the crops and reduce the supply. In these situations the price will rise significantly as demand will remain high. Demand for sugar is continuing to rise, because sugar is no longer exclusively used in food production, but also as an input in the production of biofuels.
The increasing environmental awareness is causing a rise in the demand for bio fuels, in which sugar is an important input material. Sugar is replacing corn as the leading input in bio fuel production, because of its efficiency advantage over corn. These two factor combined are raising the demand for sugar and should be monitored in order to be able to make a realistic and calculated price forecast.
Governments from virtually every country are exercising influence in the price-creation of sugar. This is either done by subsidizing the farmers and manufacturers or by limiting the import/export of their country. This may result in significant price difference between countries. Apart from price differences, governmental intervention will also affect the regular market workings. This may result in highly volatile market prices and unexpected price shifts.
Health awareness has a negative effect on the demand for sugar. Recent studies are instructing the population on the negative effects of large sugar consumption. This causes producers to reduce sugar content in their products or use substitutes.
What we need for our sugar industry is better sales outlets and tactics nationally and internationally.
Yours
Rooplall Dudhnath

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