Palm Beach Post | 10 October 2012
By Susan Salisbury
Two Palm Beach County sugar companies have expanded into Belize in Central America, making it the sixth country outside the U.S. where they own mills and refineries.
In a deal that closed last week for a reported $65 million, Florida Crystals Corp., of West Palm Beach, and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, of Belle Glade, acquired Belize Sugar Industries Ltd.
Florida Crystals and the Cooperative jointly own American Sugar Refining Inc., which is the entity that acquired the Belize sugar firm. ASR is the world’s largest cane sugar refining company, producing 6.5 million tons of sugar a year.
BSI already supplied sugar to ASR, Florida Crystals vice president Gaston Cantens said Wednesday.
BSI is the chief supplier of Fair Trade-certified sugar globally.
“It was available, and the Fair Trade component of the acquisition was important,” Cantens said.
Fair Trade certification means that farmers receive a fair price for their harvest. Fair Trade creates direct trade links between farmer-owned cooperatives and buyers, and provides access to affordable credit, according to Oakland, Calif.-based Fair Trade USA, which audits and certifies transactions between U.S. companies and international suppliers.
BSI owns Belize’s only sugar mill, which crushed more than a million tons of sugar cane and produced 114,000 tons of sugar in its most recent crop. The company employs close to 500 people and farms 4,000 acres of cane. It also processes the cane of 6,000 independent growers who farm roughly 55,000 acres.
“The plan is to help them become more efficient and produce more sugar, and to help the independent growers produce more cane,” said Florida Crystals spokeswoman Marianne Martinez. “We have the expertise to go in and do that.”
Barbara Miedema, spokeswoman for the Cooperative, said, “Belize is a key supplier for our European holdings. It is good to have the synergies to be able to have some control over your supply from field to factory to the supply chain.”
BSI also operates a 30 megawatt biomass cogeneration plant that produces and sells renewable electricity to the Belize power grid, supplying a quarter of the country’s electricity.
In 2010 ASR, based in Yonkers, N.Y., bought Tate & Lyle PLC’s European cane sugar refineries in London and Lisbon, Portugal. The brand dates back to 1859. Tate & Lyle also produces Fair Trade-certified sugar, Cantens said.
ASR owns and operates eight refineries and a mill, in New York, Maryland, Louisiana, California, Canada, Mexico, England and Portugal.
Florida Crystals, which owns 64 percent of ASR, farms and owns and operates three sugar mills and two refineries in western Palm Beach County and the Dominican Republic. The Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative, 36-percent owners of ASR, farm and operate a mill in Belle Glade.
ASR’s brand portfolio includes Domino, C&H, Florida Crystals, Redpath, Tate & Lyle, Lyle’s Golden Syrup, Sidul and Sores.
Cane farmers protest in front of Belize Sugar Industries, Orange Walk Town, Belize, 2009.
By Susan Salisbury
Two Palm Beach County sugar companies have expanded into Belize in Central America, making it the sixth country outside the U.S. where they own mills and refineries.
In a deal that closed last week for a reported $65 million, Florida Crystals Corp., of West Palm Beach, and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, of Belle Glade, acquired Belize Sugar Industries Ltd.
Florida Crystals and the Cooperative jointly own American Sugar Refining Inc., which is the entity that acquired the Belize sugar firm. ASR is the world’s largest cane sugar refining company, producing 6.5 million tons of sugar a year.
BSI already supplied sugar to ASR, Florida Crystals vice president Gaston Cantens said Wednesday.
BSI is the chief supplier of Fair Trade-certified sugar globally.
“It was available, and the Fair Trade component of the acquisition was important,” Cantens said.
Fair Trade certification means that farmers receive a fair price for their harvest. Fair Trade creates direct trade links between farmer-owned cooperatives and buyers, and provides access to affordable credit, according to Oakland, Calif.-based Fair Trade USA, which audits and certifies transactions between U.S. companies and international suppliers.
BSI owns Belize’s only sugar mill, which crushed more than a million tons of sugar cane and produced 114,000 tons of sugar in its most recent crop. The company employs close to 500 people and farms 4,000 acres of cane. It also processes the cane of 6,000 independent growers who farm roughly 55,000 acres.
“The plan is to help them become more efficient and produce more sugar, and to help the independent growers produce more cane,” said Florida Crystals spokeswoman Marianne Martinez. “We have the expertise to go in and do that.”
Barbara Miedema, spokeswoman for the Cooperative, said, “Belize is a key supplier for our European holdings. It is good to have the synergies to be able to have some control over your supply from field to factory to the supply chain.”
BSI also operates a 30 megawatt biomass cogeneration plant that produces and sells renewable electricity to the Belize power grid, supplying a quarter of the country’s electricity.
In 2010 ASR, based in Yonkers, N.Y., bought Tate & Lyle PLC’s European cane sugar refineries in London and Lisbon, Portugal. The brand dates back to 1859. Tate & Lyle also produces Fair Trade-certified sugar, Cantens said.
ASR owns and operates eight refineries and a mill, in New York, Maryland, Louisiana, California, Canada, Mexico, England and Portugal.
Florida Crystals, which owns 64 percent of ASR, farms and owns and operates three sugar mills and two refineries in western Palm Beach County and the Dominican Republic. The Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative, 36-percent owners of ASR, farm and operate a mill in Belle Glade.
ASR’s brand portfolio includes Domino, C&H, Florida Crystals, Redpath, Tate & Lyle, Lyle’s Golden Syrup, Sidul and Sores.
