(JIS) – Monymusk Sugar Factory: The Government has secured an agreement with operators of the Clarendon-based Monymusk Sugar Factory, Pan Caribbean, to keep it open for the 2017/2018 crop season.
Making the announcement at a press briefing at the Ministry in New Kingston on September 20, Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Karl Samuda, said the company will operate the factory during the period, under certain conditions.
“Pan Caribbean will be allowed to import and distribute refined sugar in addition to brown sugar,” the Minister said, adding that the company will return 25,000 acres of leased land at Bernard Lodge in St. Catherine to the Government.
He said with control of the land, the Government will be able to go in search of new investors to develop an amount “sufficient to make the production of cane at Monymusk viable”.
Meanwhile, the Minister pointed out that permits to import refined sugar for the retail trade will be restricted to approved marketing agents. “This is additional strategy being pursued to stop the leakage of imported refined sugar under the guise as raw material for the manufacturing sector,” he said.
He emphasised that the sale of sugar at the retail level must be conducted in packages that are approved under the Bureau of Standards regulations.
“When our inspectors go to supermarkets and find that sugar is not being retailed in the prescribed packages, that sugar will be confiscated, and the proprietors will be subjected to fines of up to $3 million,” Mr. Samuda said.
He further added that no attempt is being made to block the sale by retailers of refined sugar, but to ensure that approved purchasers of the commodity are obeying the regulations.
