SAC’s concern is that the industry can only survive if, as it has previously made clear, the existing 40 per cent Common External Tariff (CET) on all sugar imports is rigorously applied.
Observing that this is not happening, SAC said that having gathered market intelligence across the region, it has found that ‘more than two-thirds of CARICOM’s sugar demand is currently being supplied by extra regional sugar imports’. This is happening, they observe, even though the industry in CARICOM annually produces more sugar than the Anglophone part of the region requires.
SAC and its members have said that it is their intention to hold those involved accountable and to make sure that the rules and policies are enforced and that ‘anything less would amount to an abrogation of responsibility regarding the principles and functionality of the CSME’.