Brown sugar may soon retail for more than $2 per pound

It may be a bitter-sweet time for Vincentians when the next shipment of brown sugar arrives on these shores.

This could very well be the case as the price of sugar is set to rise to an all time high.

At present, there is no brown sugar in shops and on supermarket shelves; this has been so for about two months now.

Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves announced on Wednesday, August 24 that the country’s regular supplier, Guyana Sugar Corporation, would not be able to supply the regular shipment until late November.

The prime minister added that the Agricultural Input Warehouse, importers of the commodity, has contacted Belize Sugar Industries in an attempt to source brown sugar from them.

However, while the Input Warehouse paid $US 560 per metric tonne for brown sugar from Guyana, the price from Belize is close to $300 more. The cost is US$832 per metric tonne.

In the absence of available brown sugar from the Input Warehouse, private individuals have been importing the commodity and selling sugar on the ‘black market.’

SEARCHLIGHT was informed that in some cases people have been buying brown sugar for three dollars or more per pound .

The last time brown sugar was readily available here, it was sold for around $1.75 per pound.

On Wednesday, Gonsalves told listeners to NBC radio, that brown sugar could now increase to $2.05 per pound.

As for white sugar, he said the last shipment was imported in June 2022.

He recalled that the cost at that time was $US640 per metric tonne.

According to the prime minister, the next shipment of white sugar is expected to cost $US1,100 per metric tonne.

At present, white sugar is available at supermarkets, retailing in some places for under two dollars per pound.

However, based on the rising cost, Gonsalves believes that the price of white sugar could go up to about $2.40 per pound.

Brown sugar is more regularly used in households across St Vincent and the Grenadines, especially among the poor.

But with the present scarcity, even the less fortunate have had to purchase white sugar.

On Wednesday the prime minister promised to take the matter to Cabinet to “see how we can lessen the pain.”

This may require removing the Customs charges and other duties, so that sugar will not be sweet in the mouth but bitter on the pockets of Vincentians.