Guyana to import sugar for 1st time since 1990 to US and Europe

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Guyana is importing sugar for the first time in nearly two decades to cover a shortfall blamed on heavy rains and labor strikes.

Nick Jackson is chief executive of the country's state-owned sugar company. He says the imports will serve domestic demand while the country sends locally produced sugar to meet annual quotas in the United States and Europe.

He said Thursday that the country plans to buy about 14,000 tons of sugar from Guatemala.

Industry officials said the 226,000 tons of sugar produced in Guyana last year was the lowest in 17 years.

The South American nation last imported sugar in 1990.