The Seprod-owned Golden Grove Sugar Company in St Thomas is now actively producing and marketing its own brand of sugar for both the domestic as well as export markets.

Under the brand “Golden Grove”, the sugar company currently produces bulk (50 kg) bags of sugar as well consumer-sized bags which come in 500g, one kg and two kg packages.

According to the company’s Commercial Manager Major (ret’d) Evrol Dixon, it’s the first time the sugar company has been granted a marketing agency status. Prior to this, the marketing function was carried out by the Jamaica Cane Products Sales Limited (JCPS), a private company which is jointly owned by sugar manufacturers and cane farmers.

The sales and marketing is now done by Industrial Sales Limited, which is one of the subsidiaries in the Seprod Group. Major Dixon said that while most of the sugar is sold through Industrial Sales Limited, the sugar company also sells directly as well.

“We are formerly a part of the (JCPS)…so it’s the first time we are utilising that new status to export. Right now the big bags (50 kg) were the first order, but we are interested in very much selling the commercial packs as well,” Dixon stated.

He added that the first export order for 2,500 bags of sugar came from Barbados, but this is an initial order and so the company is expecting more orders to come in.

In the case of the domestic market, Dixon explained that there is a limit on how much can be sold.

“The majority which we can sell in the local market is set by the Sugar Industry Authority and its a quota of about 6,000 metric tonnes of sugar and we can meet that quota. Above that, we would look to export or we could sell it to JCPS for them to meet their quota,” the commercial manager said.

Dixon explained that, for this year, the expected target for production is 13, 5000 tonnes, which is less than the company’s normal production target. He attributed this to the past two years of drought, which he said had restricted the factory’s output.

“The industry standard is what’s called the Factory Recovery Index (FRI) that tends to be the bit of the standard. The industry’s statement is that you pay for sugar; you don’t pay for cane, so we’re saying that for the sugar that’s in the cane, the factory should be able to extract at least 91 per cent of that sugar. That’s a part of the whole formula, so you actually pay for the 91 per cent of the sugar; so that is the FRI and so each factory tries to achieve or exceed the FRI,” he explained.

He added that the company was currently tracking below the FRI, but stated that he expects that by the end of the harvesting season to exceed the 91 per cent. Dixon also maintained that the company expects to increase yields going forward, which will in turn result in an increase in the amount of sugar produced.

Asked about the reception of the product on the local market, Dixon proudly stated that the new brand of sugar has been well received as there have been highly positive reviews from the public.

“A lot of persons will tell you that they have never seen local sugar that looks this good, and we take a lot of pride in that. Certainly the workforce does as we are trying to produce a quality sugar that is as good as you can get anywhere else in the Caribbean,” the commercial manager stated.