ABSTRACT
The world sugar shortage of 1974 set off an expansion of output to which the market had all but adjusted by 1978/79. In the case of sugar the exercise is not helped by the existence of chronic imbalances, intense instability, and a whole range of imponderables, any one of which can fail to materialize, and so knock even the most sophisticated projections badly off course. Annual production in China will increase by almost one million tons by 1995. The strongest growth in sugar consumption is expected to come from the developing countries. By 1981, Jamaica had to import sugar not only for domestic consumption but also to honour its commitments under the Lome Convention. The Government’s role is to devise a sugar policy which will maintain a certain degree of self-sufficiency, control the level of imports, and stabilize the price of sugar from both sources at prices which equalize their value.
