Jamaica: Sugar Annual
Post projects that Jamaica’s Marketing Year (MY) 2018/19 sugar production will be 76,000 MT, a decrease from the 82,000 MT produced during MY 2017/18, due to the reduction in the number of sugar factories from five to four and the inefficiencies of transporting sugarcane over longer distances. For MY 2019/20, Post forecasts that 60,000 MT of raw sugar will be produced because of the reduction in the area planted for sugarcane and the permanent closure of one of the five sugar factories. In MY 2018/19, Jamaica is expected to fulfill its U.S. sugar quota, supply all of its domestic raw sugar needs from its own production, and continue exports to the European Union (EU), even though the prices that the EU pays for Jamaican sugar have become less attractive due to EU policy changes.