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Bel-Car Export & Import Company Limited

out of Belize and there’s no other company as

well organized,” Friesen declares. “But there are

commodity brokers existing around us, who will

buy from the same farmers and export into the

same markets to a certain extent. And we do

sell some locally, because at harvest times, we

never know how much the local consumption

will be and how much the farmers kept for local

supply, so there are times when we will sell

back into the local market, but it’s not the main

focus of the company,” he adds.

Recently, Friesen says that Bel-Car has done

quite a bit of research and planning into val-

ue-added food processing. “There are a few of

these things that have been on the table for

awhile and we’re seriously looking at them, but

I’m not sure when they will materialize,” he says.

“One of themwe spent a lot of effort on recently

is canned beans.With canning, I don’t necessarily

mean tin cans; it could well be in other presen-

tations, but ready-to-eat in retail packaging.The

reason for this is that we’re finding that people in

developed countries–Trinidad, for instance has

been a big market for us, for years -Trinidadians

don’t want to cook their beans, anymore, before

they go to work–they just want to buy a ready-

made can.And why have somebody else do

that? Why not do it ourselves?”

Meanwhile, the company has continued to

invest in processing equipment for its raw prod-

ucts, which are generally sold in bulk–50 and

100 pound bags. “We put in a whole new line

of bean processing equipment three years ago,”

says Friesen. “It’s computerized, state-of-the-art

equipment that has quality separation, color sort-

ing, and all of that just to ensure that the product