Canada has imported 1.46 million metric tons of sugar from Guatemala since 2015

Photo: On May 2, 2023, PBI-Canada heard about the impacts of the El Pilar sugar mill on the nearby community of Pajales Sis.

On May 2-4, PBI-Canada visited the South Coast of Guatemala to learn more about the impacts of sugar production on communities and their access to water.

Just two weeks prior to our visit, the United States Department of Agriculture released its annual report on sugar production in Guatemala.

Among the findings in that report:

– “In marketing year (MY) 2023/2024, Guatemala is forecast to produce 2.6 million metric tons of sugar from sugarcane from a harvested area of 251,000 hectares.”

– “Exports in MY 2023/2024 are forecast at 1.66 million MT, 4 percent above the revised estimate for MY2022/2023 (1.597 million MT).”

– “In MY1982/1983, Guatemala produced 369,143 MT of sugar, which increased 6-fold its production to 2.58 million MT by MY2021/2022.”

– “In terms of water efficiency, the sugarcane crop system only requires 100 cubic meters of water per ton, while global averages are 175 cubic meters per ton…”

– “Guatemala’s main export channel continues to be Port Quetzal. The sugar industry’s exporter terminal -EXPOGRANEL- maintains its installed capacity to receive 800 MT of sugar per hour bulk vessel filling at a speed of 2,164 MT of sugar per hour.”

Canada has imported 1.46 million metric tons of sugar from Guatemala since 2015

The most recent US Department of Agriculture report and their report from the previous year provide tables that reveals how many metric tons (MT) of sugar Canada has imported from Guatemala on an annual basis:

2022 – 87,050 MT

2021 – 113,650 MT

2020 – 269,770 MT

The UN Comtrade database also notes:

2019 – 333,080 MT

This chart from CENGICAÑA and Global Trade Atlas tells us:

2018 – 203,331 MT

And this USDA report adds:

2017 – 79,281 MT

2016 – 287,529 MT

And from this report:

2015 – 87,142 MT

While the amount of sugar Canada imports from Guatemala does fluctuate from year to year, these numbers from various sources indicate Canada has imported a total of 1,460,833 metric tons of sugar from Guatemala since 2015.

Guatemalan sugar exports to Canada required 146 million cubic meters of water

Given the US Department of Agriculture report notes that “the sugarcane crop system [in Guatemala] only requires 100 cubic meters of water per ton”, we can generally estimate that the 1,460,833 metric tons of sugar that Canada has imported since 2015, has required approximately 146,083,300 cubic meters of water.

Impacts on water

On its recent visit to the South Coast of Guatemala, PBI-Canada saw diminished and polluted rivers attributed to sugar production and visited numerous communities that shared stories about how the water required for sugar mills had dried wells and gardens.

Comunidad del 15 de febrero faces eviction after November 1

On May 4, we met with the “February 15th” community. They told us that their harvest was a failure because of the monoculture in the region. They added that water-takings by the sugar industry makes it impossible to farm and that the sugar plantations can drill much deeper wells than them and take the groundwater that they need for their crops.

As a result of their crop failure, the community is now fearful that they will not be able to make the interest payment on the loan 7 million Quetzal loan for their land. That payment of 5,000 Quetzals (about CAD $875) is due on November 1. If they cannot make that payment, the community faces eviction.

Mapping Guatemalan sugar exports to Toronto and Vancouver

As noted in the US Department of Agriculture report: “Guatemala’s main export channel continues to be Port Quetzal. The sugar industry’s exporter terminal – EXPOGRANEL- maintains its installed capacity to receive 800 MT of sugar per hour bulk vessel filling at a speed of 2,164 MT of sugar per hour.”

Photo: The Expogranel port in Puerto Quetzal in 2020.

In April 2019, PortsToronto reported that the MV Cape brought more than 18,920 metric tonnes of sugar from Guatemala to Redpath Sugar.

Photo: Redpath Sugar Refinery in Toronto.

And in January 2016, Reuben Jentink wrote: “The sugar is loaded onto ships at the Expogranel sugar loading terminal, responsible for the reception, storage, and loading of all sugar product exported from Guatemala’s Pacific coast at Puerto Quetzal.”

Jentink then notes: “The sugar then travels 3662 nautical miles to the Rogers Refinery’s deep-sea wharf located at the Port of Metro Vancouver.”

Photo: Lantic/Rogers Vancouver Cane Refinery.

For more on this, please see our article: How does sugar from Guatemala arrive in Canada? (March 3, 2022).

Redpath and Lantic claim responsible sourcing

Redpath highlights: “’Sustainably Sourced’ and ‘Ethically Grown’ for Redpath means that our raw cane sugar comes from suppliers who: respect and work towards the highest environmental, social, and governance standards; uphold human rights; have been verified through our rigorous Ethical Sourcing Program.”

Lantic/Rogers also produced this ESG Report in June 2021 that says: “Rogers’ raw material sourcing is responsible.” And Redpath says its “Corporate Social Responsibility Program is an ongoing commitment to continuous assessment of our supply chain.”

Members of the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) face trial on May 16-18

PBI-Guatemala has noted: “The CCR began to organize in 2015 as a result of adverse effects caused by the expansion of the monoculture of sugar and the use of large-scale agrochemicals and pesticides used by the mills in the region.”

As a result of their defence of the right to water, four members of the CCR are being criminalized by a complainant associated with the El Pilar sugar mill.

Photo: The entrance to the El Pilar sugar mill.

The four criminalized members of the CCR face their next court date on May 16-18.

One of the criminalized defenders, Abelino Mejia Cancino, has commented: “We need people to realize that when they consume sugar, it has an impact on the life of the communities and on the right to water for all. We call for the consumption of what is healthy and good produced by the campesinos and not products made by the big companies.”

On March 13, 2022, Abelino participated in this PBI-Canada webinar. At that time, he said: “There is a year-by-year certification process for the sugar mills. They need to visit not just the sugar mills, but the communities, that they come to see the rivers, they need to see the reality of the poverty the sugar cane industry is leaving here in our country.”

From the Lantic/Rogers and Redpath websites, it appears that the companies conduct their own assessments, rather than being certified by an external body.

Abelino also noted on our webinar: “An international commission needs to come to verify the damage that has taken place. And to say if you aren’t going to protect the environment, we can’t buy your sugar.”

As noted above, Canada has imported 1.46 million metric tons of sugar that required an estimated 146 million cubic meters of water since 2015, the year that the CCR members began to organize and as a consequence face this criminalization.

We continue to follow this situation.

We gratefully acknowledge the research assistance that has been provided by Research for the Front Lines in this development of this report.

PBI-Canada hears testimony in the community of Pajales Sis about the impacts of the El Pilar sugar mill, May 2, 2023.