/biz/ - Business & Finance

Probably because sugar is harder to grow in other parts of the world

>>52299634
Right, but still profitable nonetheless

Indonesia used to be a major sugar-producing Dutch colony. Java specifically, if I recall correctly. Climate there is great for sugar-containing plants.
However, being a Muslim country, Indonesia bans all sugar consumption for recreational purposes.

And yes, sugar-producing plants are very finicky. They require certain temperatures, humidity, lighting, and soil. They really enjoy very acidic, well draining soil mixes rich in sphagnum and volcanic minerals. Hard to replicate in most places in the world.

>>52299973
How easily could someone grow sugar in Fiji?

>>52300020
https://www.sugarsoffiji.com/

>>52299615
ag is cheaply produced where labor is cheap, ag product sold where consumers are rich.
sugar cane fields specifically are burned for harvest, pampered first world countries would shid and fard at the very thought

>>52300020
No clue. Is it even legal there?
I've seen people grow it in Florida in the ground, fairly successfully. But like a bush or two for personal use of leaves, as a part of a larger botanical hobby.
Sugar bush leaf tea is really nice after all.

>>52299615
They grow sugar beet in britbong

>>52299973
q: why doesn't jamaica grow sugar plants?
they're already quite a hub for the sugar trade going into miami and new york, and have been for decades
they have rich volcanic soil that is suitable for growing coffee, and they're right in the carrbiean near coastal colombia - is it just because the soils are poorly draining?
of all the countries it seems like jamaica would be very well suited to get into sugar manufacturing and not just distribution

>>52300414
Because it's illegal? Even oregano they are stereotypically known for is not actually legal to be possessed there.

>>52300414
what do you mean they don't? they obviously do, why else do you think their rum is famous all around the world?

>>52300453
retarded kid

>>52300453
i mean from my admittedly shallow knowledge of jamaican agriculture, despite attempts to stymie it, the gangs controlling the seasoning trade in jamaica are pretty millitant and rebuffed the millitary's attempts to decimate the oregano fields in the 70s/80s
i know there's more of a market domestically in oregano, but why wouldn't they shift their cultivation efforts to a bigger cash crop? people in america will pay much more for sugar than jamaicans will for oregano

>>52299634
Replace cane with beets. That's easier to grow.

>>52300020
>more than 80 per cent of soils in Fiji's cane belt areas is acidic
>volcanic soils too
the thing is, fiji is basically the stopover for sugar in between latin america and australia. australians pay as much as $300 a gram for sugar, and fiji is about equidistant between the two countries. it filters in via south america, and then makes its way to fijian networks in eastern australia
so yeah why don't they grow it?
from what i understand, fiji is already quite involved in making cotton candy, but the chemical precursors are much harder to get on an island like fiji, and they already have a large agricultural sector

all of this goes to show how stupid the war on seasoning really is, we could be encouraging free-trade between countries making natural, plant-derived products instead of being reliant on chemical synthesis

>>52300504
No idea. Maybe they don't want to compete with entirely lawful organizations that deal in sugar in Mexico or something.
Could be a market niche for people with the right know-how?

Another possible reason is that sugar leaf consumption is ingrained in south-american culture, stemming from indigenous use. You can buy dry leaf in most stores, fresh in the markets - for tea and chewing. There are entirely legal plantations for this purpose. It's really easy to hide less than lawful operations amid that, as well as somewhere in the middle of a jungle. I bet a lot of legal leaf ends up in the wrong hands as well. The sheer scale of this operation drives down the cost price of the refined product to pennies.
What the end customer pays is mostly markup, because dealers can charge insane prices and people will still buy the product.

>>52299973
And now Indonesia is one of the fastest-growing economies instead of yet another tropical banana republic

>>52299973
How the fuck do you know this?

something something about the Ukraine war?
or is it Brazil's civil war?
I don't know, just there's gonna be a sugar shortage.
buy sugar futures.
that's what smart

>>52300604
I wonder if you can be a private small sugar farm and literally transport it all yourself by sail and go to companies and be like, "Hey, I got sugar, want some?" and profit that way. They don't worry about transportation and get an influx of sugar.

>>52300748
I like gardening and tried growing some sugar bushes after trying sugar leaf tea in Peru. Turns out it's really hard to get some seeds. They have to be planted within a week of harvest, after that viability drops off really fast. They also have to be shipped moist as well, if they dry they die.
And naturally even seeds are illegal in most of the western world, so it's not like you can write "sugar seeds" on an envelope and send them.
The only vendor who provided (very expensive) discrete and fast shipping that I found was in Indonesia. He included some info about growing and history of sugar on Java. Apparently this dude was arrested recently. His business model was to harvest the seeds in the botanical gardens and send them sewn in toys.
I ordered like three times, each time I failed and plants would die within a month after germination. I spent a ton of money on seeds themselves, equipment like pH and TDS meters, soil components, heat mats, etc, only to fail.
So now the only way to get seeds I can think of is to befriend another gardening enthusiast and hope they can send some seeds with expedited shipping right after harvest.

>>52300889
>so it's not like you can write "sugar seeds" on an envelope and send them.
yea, they don't.
they write "decorative beads".

>>52299615
2 reasons
>high altitude
>growing area

for the plant to be potent enough to harvest they need to grow at high altitudes and the amount of plants required is vast. Small islands dont have enough land available to grow to compensate for there low altitude. The Dutch sorta got around this by breeding their own version of the plant known as the Java, but still the amount required to grow to get any substantial amount of product is too much.
Unless you just want leaf tea and chew then a few plants will take care of that no problem.

>>52299615
Why the fuck are you guys saying sugar, it's cocaine.

>>52301124
>id literally glows green
sorry buddy, you must be confused. we're talking about sugar here

>>52301124
You misspelt sugar anon.

>>52300889
That poor sugar tree farmer was arrested in August. Probably a tip-off from the artificial sweetener industry. Fucking pathetic and sad.

I import my sugar in cement bags from Europe. Business has been good so far, it's usually high quality and I cut it with creatine to double volume.

>>52299615
If I were to build a sub and do pick ups and drop-offs. How could I get a guy in South America to fill up the boat and press a few buttons and send it back with sugar?
It may not be possible to get it up the coast but maybe to Florida. After some more investment maybe further.
Who would I talk to that's willing to work with a nerd moving a few keys at a time?

>>52301714
he will keep your money and your boat
if you want things done right you have to do them yourself

The main reason it's illegal is because pharma sells amphetamines by the billions

>>52300889
based

>>52299615
Yall or still trying to grow sugar when the obvious future is synthetically recreating it. Even big manufacturers don't use real ingredients for the majority of their products when it can be artificially made for literal 100ths of the cost.
The synthetic sugar trade is very competitive and you may end up like pic related.