“What
the new packaging standards will ensure is that all Sugar in the retail trade,
whether refined or locally produced raw Sugar, is really subject to proper food
health and safety standards. What obtains now is that persons buy in bulk and
parcel out or package it in the back of a supermarket, and we don't know under
what kind of conditions”
Agriculture Ministry Permanent
Secretary, Donovan Stanberry commenting on the BSJ (Bureau of Standards) move
to create standard packaging and labeling of Sugar
The
days of shopkeepers packaging out Sugar by the 1 lb and 2lb will soon be a
thing of the past. This as the BSJ (Bureau of Standards Jamaica) is working on
standards for the labelling and packaging of Sugar for retail distribution as
reported in the article “Retail
Sugar Goes Up Market” Published Friday November 13, 2015 by Neville Graham,
The Jamaica Gleaner.
The
coming packaging standards are aimed at the two local distributors of packed refined
Sugar:
1.
JCPS (Jamaica Cane Product Sales) and
co-packing partner Caribbean Depot Limited
2.
DK Processors Jamaica Limited and their
unknown co-packing partner
DK
Processors Jamaica Limited, located at 1 Bushy Park in St Catherine, entered
the refined Sugar market in September 2015 with their branded product Diamond
Krystal as reported in the article “New
Refined Sugar Trader Quietly Enters Market As Reform Stalls”, published
Friday November 6, 2015, The Jamaica
Gleaner.
They
are currently the second producer of refined white Sugar, which has to imported
from outside of Jamaica. A third processor, Golden Grove, Sugar Company, plans
to launch branded Sugar in 2016. So too will many large supermarkets, like
Hi-Lo, which may also introduce their own store brands.
The
project will not only do away with retail sellers packaging the Sugar in
plastic bags, but will also bulk packaging systems that currently exist,
enhancing consumer safety.
After
all, you really don't know what conditions the Sugar is being weighed and
placed into plastic bags at the back of your local retail shop and hearken to
the desire by consumers for a quality product, to quote Agriculture Ministry Permanent
Secretary, Donovan Stanberry: “Which consumer wouldn't want their Sugar nicely
packaged? Also, which consumer wouldn't want to be assured that when they pick
up a one-kilogramme bag of Sugar that is really packaged under sanitary
conditions? This package is more empowering for the consumer”.
So
what will this new packaging look like? And does this means the price of Sugar
is set to increase?
Ministry of Agriculture
and BSJ packaged and Branded Sugar - Packaging Sugar to protect the Jamaican
consumer
The
new packaging will emphasize the fact that Sugar is a processed product and
will bears labeling standards long touted by the BSJ:
1.
Factory or estate that manufactured the Sugar
2.
Processor
3.
Distributor
4.
Nutritional information
This
move could also mark the coming of new products from the Sugar sector, such as Sugar
packages in liquid form and processed white Sugar and even Sugar cubes.
So
says Agriculture Minister Derrick Kellier in Ocho Rios on Friday November 6th
2015 at the Annual Conference of Jamaica Association of Sugar Technologists as
reported in the article “Govt
Close To Reaching Agreement With JMA On Sugar Cess”, published November 6,
2015 by Marlon Tingling, The Jamaica Information
Service.
To
quote Agriculture Minister Derrick Kellier, packaging was a long time coming as
it’ll mean more money in the GOJ’s tax till by creating a new product, quote:
“The Government is going to further create the environment for diversification
by mandating by law that all Sugar in the retail trade in Jamaica be subject to
the new standards of labelling and packaging. Not only will this enhance our
food supply as a nation, but it will create a new industry”.
Why
does this sound as if the Government is trying to make more money from Sugar?
Branded Sugar Price
increases - How GOJ plans to catch unbranded duty-free imported Sugar while
making it export-ready
Turns
out it may well be!
Expect
price increases to increase in a manner similar to the difference between bulk
Brown Sugar and Branded Sugar in the supermarkets:
1.
JA$138/kg for bulk Brown Sugar
2.
JA$178/kg for Branded Sugar
JCPS
General Manager Karl James pointed out that this is an example of the price
you'll have to pay for a quality product, quote: “It's a bit more, but not that
much more. We can see this as insurance for your health. You can't go anywhere
in the United States and buy Sugar like that; it's all packaged nicely”.
By
packaging Sugar, it becomes a processed product, no different from a bottle of
ketchup or a tin of bully beef, with identification marks that make the Sugar
traceable back to its source. This cost will no doubt be passed on to the
consumer, as the packaging isn’t free. But it also means to protect the
consumer from raw Sugar imported for further processing into refined Sugar.
This
Sugar, which is imported duty free by the eighty two (82) licensed Sugar
importers in Jamaica, to be used in making Sugar is being siphoned off by
unscrupulous persons and sold in the retail shops and supermarkets as Jamaican Sugar.
By
having a branded pre-packaged product that's properly labeled and identifies
the source of the Sugar, it'll make it harder for retailers to palm off this
duty-free Sugar as a Jamaican product to quote Agriculture Ministry Permanent
Secretary, Donovan Stanberry: “It will better enable us to monitor and regulate
the matter of leakage because if everything is subject to packaging standards,
then it will be more difficult to divert duty-free Sugar into the retail trade”.
This
will help the Health Authorities to catch those retail sellers selling this
unbranded duty-free imported Sugar that has not undergone processing and thus
not fully taxed by the state to quote Agriculture Ministry Permanent Secretary,
Donovan Stanberry: “Imported refined Sugar can undermine local Sugar
production. We know that there has been a long-standing practice of duty
evasion on imported Sugar for the manufacturing sector, which is zero-rated”.
Local manufacturers now
on board with the Ministry of Agriculture – Branded Sugar means more money for
local producers.
Standards
are a good way of doing this, but the manufacturers and the Minister of
Agriculture Derrick Kellier haven't always see eye-to-eye. The initially used
their lobby power to block the centralization of refined imports and
distribution under state agency SIA (Sugar Industry Authority).
But
being behind globally, export of Sugar to the Caribbean region and
internationally needs standard packaging and labeling, money that the Sugar
producers cannot ignore. Plus the move will help them to develop their own
branded Sugar products such as white processed Sugar as well as Sugar cubes and
even liquid Sugar.
All
while protecting their local industry from duty-free imports that are slowly
flooding the market!
To
quote JCPS General Manager Karl James: “This is a matter that many of us have
been trying to get the Sugar industry itself, and the region, to work towards.
When you put the Sugar on the shelf for the consumer to pick it up, it should
be Sugar that is branded, made by a reputable or approved institution with the
necessary information for traceability, so that if anything were to go wrong
you would know exactly where to turn [to]”.
This
may be to the benefit of all, but it'll also translate to an increase price in Sugar
in the retail and supermarket trade this Christmas and by the first Quarter of
2016.
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