Tate and Lyle signals its intention to appeal Fairtrade premium dispute with cane farmers

Tate and Lyle Sugars Limited has indicated that it intends to appeal a Court of Appeal decision that cleared the way for the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association to pursue its multi-million-dollar Fairtrade premium claim.  The development follows a virtual court hearing held yesterday, in which the BSCFA was represented by attorney Magali Marin Young. According to BSCFA Vice Chairman Alfredo Ortega, the association was informed of Tate and Lyle’s intention to take the matter to a higher court as the legal dispute continues.

Alfredo Ortega, Vice Chairman, Committee of Management, BSCFA: “Yesterday the matter was in court virtually. It was only the lawyer that was present and according to the information that was sent was sent to us is that Tate and Lisle lawyers went in and said that they will appeal the court of appeal decision. So it stayed there and nothing more went across to it. So we will see when they will push in their appeals I think to the CCJ. I don’t know because they have already appealed here in Belize to the court of appeal and it was rejected. Their appeal was rejected. So now they came out again on the yesterday on which they say that they will appeal again. So we know that they are doing this move to persuade the farmers but I can say that the farmers are very resilient and we will be working to the end with this because the move is very unjust to the BSCFA on what they are doing to us. And so we will walk through, I believe, we will be walking through to see how best the court can bring this matter to clarity and to bring it to an end maybe in further time..”

The latest development comes just over a month after the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by Tate and Lyle and upheld an earlier High Court decision allowing the BSCFA’s substantive claim to proceed.  The case centres on Fairtrade premium payments the association says are owed to cane farmers for the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 crop years. The BSCFA is seeking damages and an accounting of premiums it alleges were improperly withheld. Its claim also alleges that Tate and Lyle and Belize Sugar Industries engaged in an unlawful conspiracy that caused financial losses to farmers.  Tate and Lyle had sought to have the case struck out and challenged the jurisdiction of the Belizean courts, arguing that the dispute was subject to an arbitration clause contained in a previous Letter of Enhancement Agreement. The Court of Appeal, however, found that the agreement had expired before the period covered by the claim and ruled that there were substantive issues that should be determined at trial.  That June ruling lifted the stay on the substantive proceedings and allowed the case to resume before the High Court.