Sugar Buyer in Debt

Fiji’s longest standing and largest sugar buyer – Tate & Lyle – will discontinue its multi-million dollar sugars division from September 30 this year.

A Tate & Lyle statement said this came as the company battled to control its net debt, which sat at $2.42billion (814million Pounds) at March 31 this year.

On July 1, the company announced that it was selling its entire European Union sugar operations for $629.1million (211m Pounds) in cash to American Sugar Refining – which is one of the oldest and largest sugar companies in the United States.

Tate & Lyle Sugars President Ian Bacon confirmed that he would respond soon to Fiji Times questions on the impact of the sale on Fiji’s 300,000 tonne per year sugar contract with the company.

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