Valley: No sugar shortage in TT

TRADE AND INDUSTRY Minister Ken Valley yesterday said that there is no shortage of sugar in Trinidad and Tobago. Responding to reports that local soft drink manufacturers were planning to increase prices due to increases in the international price of sugar, Valley recalled that Government took steps last year to increase the quantity of sugar it imported into TT and gave  local manufacturers permission to import whatever additional sugar they needed during a shortage last year. He said local manufacturers would have to apply to the Caricom Secretariat to import any additional sugar they require, and there has been a delay in some of the necessary paperwork. Valley added that the ministry is currently addressing that situation and additional sugar stocks are coming into the country.

TT Manufacturers Association (TTMA) president Paul Quesnel agreed with Valley, saying that the Sugar Manufacturing Company Ltd (SMCL) has sufficient stocks of sugar and there is no need for the population to panic about a sugar shortage.  Quesnel said sugar crops in this country and others in the region (Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Belize and Colombia) have either not started or are now underway  and sugar will be available to manufacturers and consumers. However, he said the increase in the international price of sugar in addition to other factors such as increased fuel and transportation costs and costs of resin (used to manufacture plastic products for the beverage industry), will cause the prices of goods with a heavy sugar content to increase.