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Mauritian sugar officials in Washington

Promote specialty sugars, discourage changes to US sugar program

Mauritian sugar officials came to Washington last week with a message for the U.S. government: don't go the way of Europe and change the U.S. sugar program that offers Mauritian sugar guaranteed access into the U.S. market.

Jean-Noel Humbert, the new chief executive officer of the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate, and Myrnal Roy, the MSS's overseas representative based in London, also received some good news during their visit here: that Mauritius will be able to sell more sugar to the United States this year. This is because sugar cane fields in Louisiana suffered extensive damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita last September, severely limiting U.S. sugar production. As a result, the United States has increased the sugar quotas for countries like Mauritius.

Humbert said that Mauritius will enjoy a short-term increase of 8,000 tons in their quota for 2006, with a possible extension depending on how quickly the U.S. cane fields are able to recover. "It's for one year only, but it could spill over into next year, since the U.S. crop could take two cycles to recover," Humbert told Weekend in an interview in Washington. He said Mauritius should have no problem meeting this new demand, as the outlook for this July's harvest looks good.

In Washington, Humbert and Noel met with officials of the U.S. Agriculture Department, which administers the U.S. sugar program, and members and staff of the U.S. Congress, which writes the laws that govern the sugar program. He said the meetings were a chance for U.S. policymakers to learn more about Mauritian sugar, and especially about the importance of sugar to the island's social and economic fabric.

"We explained the importance of continued market access for Mauritian sugar into the United States, " Humbert said. "We told them how sugar plays an economic role, a social role and environmental role, as we use bagasse to produce 40 percent of the electricity on the island."

Humbert told officials how Mauritius will suffer a severe economic blow with reforms approved by the European Union, in which sugar producers like Mauritius will take a 36 price cut over the next four years. "This will be a real shock to our industry and to our economy," he said.

He warned that should the United States move to reform its own sugar program along similar lines to what was done in Europe, Mauritius would suffer another deep blow. "We told them that the U.S. sugar program has helped us and transferred value to our economy and it must be continued."

"Our fear is that we would have another situation with crippling price cuts coupled with no compensation" to the local industry for lost income and production. "Our message was not to change something that has worked," he said.

Despite the current difficulties, Humbert said the Mauritian industry sees potential for increased exports through the further development of niche markets in specialty sugars, especially to the United States.

The market continues to grow in America for two principal types of specialty sugars: Demerara, a crunchy and golden brown raw sugar used often to sweeten coffee and tea, and Muscovado, a light brown sugar that retains the natural molasses of the sugarcane and is used mostly in baking cookies and cakes.

"The consumer is just beginning to learn about these sugars in the United States," Humbert said. "The market won't expand quickly, but it's an interesting niche market with potential" for both the industrial trade (bakeries) and for retail (supermarkets). The key, he said, will be educating American consumers about the unique flavors of these sugars and convincing them that it's worth paying a premium price for these special products.

"We're working on that," Humbert said of developing more market potential. Currently, about 15 percent of Mauritian sugar exports are specialty products and Humbert is hoping that this will grow to 20 percent.

Buyers of specialty sugars in the United States agree that demand is growing and will continue to grow, as Americans taste the difference, realizing that unrefined specialty sugars offer a much richer flavor than refined white or dyed brown sugars. In the United States, the specialty sugars are imported by mostly small companies that sell to natural or organic food markets. A recent visit to a Washington, D.C. store of Whole Foods Markets, a chain of natural food stores, found two Mauritian sugars: the Demerara and the Muscovado, selling for prices almost double the cost of a pound of regular sugar.

India Tree Gourmet Specialties in Washington State says it has had great success selling Mauritius sugars, especially the Light Muscovado, a moist golden brown sugar with a rich aroma and delicate molasses flavor. "It is a superior substitute in any baking recipe calling for brown sugar," the company said in a statement. "Sugar milled in Mauritius is particularly special because it retains much of the flavor of the cane grown on soil rich with volcanic ash. Long enjoyed I Europe, these natural sugars have only recently become available in the United States."

Other importers agree. Simon Cutts, bulk-foods manager for Wild Oats, a chain of organic food stores, says consumer demand for specialty sugars is similar to the organic-food boom, with sales growing at a rate of 25 percent a year, according to recent article in Time Magazine. "Once consumers taste these sugars, they find it chocking to go back to the plain white stuff," he told the magazine.

Interest in specialty sugars here has also grown thanks to the decision of several American restaurants to switch from conventional baking sugars to the specialty varieties. Well-known pastry chefs, such as Mary Canales at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, for example, uses only organic ingredients in her creations, and she likes the fact that specialty sugars aren't processes like refined ones are. She adds Demerara as a topping to muffins or cookies and puts dark brown muscovado as a complement to baked fruit pies.

Another factor fueling the demand for specialty products, observers say, is the customer's interest in eating food that is grown without the use of pesticides and herbicides. At Wholesome Sweeteners, based in Sugar \land Texas, chairman Nigel Willerton, says slaes of these sugars, which the company imports form five countries, reached $26 million this year, according to Time Magazine. But this is still a small share of the U.S. sugar market, as unrefined and organic sugar sales account for only about $39 million of the $10 billion yearly U.S. sugar market.

"Specialty sugars are still very much a good niche market in the United States and our sales are growing," said Paul Ryberg, the Washington representative of the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate. "But we face increasing competition as other countries have notice that special sugars are a good value-added opportunity. The competition generally produces a lower quality product, but at a much lower price. So competition is fierce."

Humbert said that specialty sugars will offer only one small piece of the larger puzzle of finding new uses for Mauritian sugar in an increasingly globalized world economy. Electricity is one possible use, and exporting Mauritian sugar expertise overseas is another. "But the future will depend on the (industry's) capacity to reduce its costs," he said.

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WEEK-END --- dimanche 12 février 2006