Copyright greaterbelize
Sugar Price Adjustment Could Slow Contraband Trade Will higher sugar prices help stop contraband? That’s the big question tonight. Marco Osorio, Chairman of the Sugar Industry Control Board, says the answer is… maybe. For years, smugglers have taken advantage of price gaps between Belize and neighboring countries like Mexico and Guatemala, where sugar costs much more. Osorio believes raising local prices could slow the flow, but admits it won’t end the problem entirely. Contraband sugar doesn’t help farmers or the mill, it only lines the pockets of those moving it across borders. And with the government reviewing price adjustments, the industry hopes this change will bring some relief. On the phone: Marco Osorio, Chairman, Sugar Industry Control Board “Yes, it will because what has happened over the years is that when there is a shortage in sugar production in Mexico, for example, in Guatemala, and more than that, their prices have always been higher than the prices we have locally. So, as a result of the increase, and it will depend on how much the increase will be because even if there is an increase on the local price of sugar and the Mexican and Guatemalan are still far higher than ours, there will still be contraband. But I believe it will curb.. I think the contraband business does not benefit the farmers nor the mill, that is the industry, it simply benefits that one person or persons that are involved in moving sugars from Belize into the neighboring countries, and they are the ones that make the largest profits, we estimate.”
