Belize Sugar Industries Ltd. (BSI) was founded in 1963 and has been producing sugar in the northern town of Orange Walk since 1967. An efficient sugar operation at Tower Hill is the foundation of the nation’s sugar industry, which is of vast societal importance to Belize, supporting 15 percent of the country’s population. Sugar is also essential to the economic health of the nation, as it is one of the largest exports and contributes around 5 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
BSI grinds 1.3 million tons of sugarcane each year with an average daily milling throughput of 6,800 tons. Tower Hill receives sugarcane from more than 5,000 independent cane growers and produces enough sugar to meet the demand of the domestic sugar market with the balance exported as raw and food-grade sugar products to refineries in the United Kingdom and United States.
Additionally, adjacent to the sugar mill, BSI produces renewable energy in its stand-alone power plant. The green energy powers the sugar-making operations and exports home-grown energy to the nation’s public power grid, providing 15% of the nation’s needs, which is an essential component to increase Belize’s energy security, because the country is heavily reliant on imported energy from overseas.
