GuySuCo struggles to recapture Caribbean market

The Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySyuCo) Marketing Department is aiming to recover the Caribbean market, given indications that sales rose from 2014, the Corporation’s 2015 annual report said.
The report stated that the Corporation believes it has the ability to do this, “particularly as a manufacturer who places price, service and value at the core of its marketing effort.”
It indicated that bagged sales to the Caribbean Community (Caricom) market – at prices well above that of the EU market – showed progression since sales totalled 19,863 tonnes as opposed to 16,976.00 metric tonnes in 2014. This consisted mainly of sales to Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Barbados, Antigua and Grenada.
Meanwhile, it noted that the Corporation vows to strategically focus its will in the regional market for value-added sugars. In 2015, 138 metric tonnes of sugar was shipped to the regional market; these included Anguilla, St Croix, British Virgin Islands and St Maarten.
However, there was a sustained supply of sugar to the local market in 2015 with sugar sales totalling 21,112 tonnes – of which 2974 metric tonnes was in retail packaged form.
“The Marketing Department continues to execute its Customer Service Charter under the accreditation of the upgraded ISO 9001/2008 Management System,” the report added, noting that the Corporation’s total sales in the value-added category for all markets totaled 8042 tonnes.
It added that GuySuCo continued trade in the markets that it has been historically supplying with bulk raw brown sugar and direct consumption (value added) sugar in 2015, while highlighting that the Corporation’s Marketing Department continues to work with the marketing agent Czarnikow Group Limited to seek out new opportunities and markets worldwide.
This effort, it said, has led to the Corporation being able to enter into a new market within Europe namely, Italy by supplying the customer with Demerara specials, packed in one tonne sacks. “This effort also enabled the Corporation to penetrate the Canadian marketplace with its direct consumption sugar. Also, during the year under review the Corporation was able to re-enter the United States of America (USA) market with its branded sugar ‘Enmore Crystals’.”
However, it indicated that the persistence of low production levels and the Corporation’s commitment under its long-term sales agreement with Tate and Lyle resulted in limited sugar being available for supply to the direct consumption market in Europe once again. Nevertheless, it emphasised that an improvement over 2014 was recorded, since a total 638 tonnes was exported during the review period.
With sales of direct consumption sugar to the USA resuming in 2015, the Corporation was able to export a total of 41 tonnes of packaged and bagged sugars into this market in the last quarter of 2015 and 25 tonnes of packaged sugar into the Canadian market.