Sugar refinery for abandoned Enmore sugar estate- Pres Ali

Last Updated on Monday, 5 February 2024, 22:23 by Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali on Monday announced that a sugar refinery would be built at the Enmore Estate, East Coast Demerara which was closed in 2018.

Addressing the Private Sector Commission’s (PSC) annual corporate dinner, he said an unnamed investor was about to decide on the construction of the refinery. “We have an investor, who is in the final stage of an investment decision soon, to convert the Enmore sugar estate that is now closed into a sugar refinery,” he said.

With Guyana’s brown sugar production now projected to again increase to 100,000 tonnes annually from this year, he said the Enmore facility would be able to refine up to 180,000 metric tonnes annually. That, according to the President, means that Guyana would have to import some sugar for refinement. “Whatever we can supply, we’ll supply then we’ll have to fill the gap so refining will occur here,” he said.

The President said the facility was expected to provide opportunities for “hundreds of upskilled jobs” and logistics to supply the refinery.

The Caribbean Development Bank had commissioned a study in 2019  to determine whether Plantation White sugar could be used a substitute for white sugar.  However, the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association later protested plans by Belize to seek a 40 percent Common External Tariff on extra-regionally produced refined sugar. “If manufacturers were to use plantation white instead of refined sugar, for reasons of quality, products will no longer be as acceptable to consumers and will not be able to compete on the basis of quality with products coming into the region,” the GMSA had said.