BARBADOS' premium brand sugar is now being sold by Britain's largest retail store and is on course to pump nearly half-million dollars monthly into the economy.

Plantation Reserve, which hit the shelves of Britain's massive Tesco's chain from September 3, sold a record 20 000 of its 500-gramme tins of sugar at £5 each last month, and those responsible for this effort to revive the island's ailing sugar industry are hoping to maintain the momentum.

According to Chris Docherty, managing director of the Barbados-based and owned West Indies Sugar & Trading Company (WISTCO), which jointly markets the sugar with Government's Barbados Agricultural Management Co (BAMC), Goddard Enterprises Ltd. and British investors, said their objective was to make £100 000 a month in sales across Britain.

"It's been a bit slower than I personally would've liked, but overall the Plantation Reserve is doing brilliantly in a very competitive market," he told the DAILY NATION yesterday. "We're up against English companies that have millions behind them."

Docherty also revealed plans to have the sugar sold in Ireland before Christmas and to get it into the United States and Canadian market by early 2008.

The Tesco's breakthrough, he added, now puts the one-year-old brand on track for distribution in almost
1 000 stores in England, including its existing presence in 151 Waitrose supermarkets as well as in upmarket stores like Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, along with hundreds of independent retailers.

Describing it as "an achievement unequalled by any equivalent Caribbean product", Docherty said "we pay more than double the European Union-subsidised price for Plantation Reserve, so every bag of sugar we sell has a direct impact on the sustainability of the Barbados sugar industry".

Another spin-off has been the publicity, Docherty noted. Aside from its advertised presence at the Ritz London, the royal enclosure at Ascot horse races and The Academy of Culinary Arts, the product has been featured in The Telegraph magazine and recently was the subject of a feature in Delicious magazine and a six-page article in The Observer Food Monthly.

"Such coverage has been exceptional not only for Plantation Reserve and the Barbados sugar industry but also for the Barbados tourim sector as a whole. The Observer Food Monthly alone is read by more than 400 000 potential UK visitors," WISTCO said in a prepared statement, noting the articles highlighted aspects of the island's rural areas and cuisine.

This aspect has also been supported by the Barbados Tourism Authority, Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, Barbados Investment and Development Corporation and the Barbados Manufacturers' Association.

"Plantation Reserve is a standard-bearer for the Barbadian government's radical strategy of reinventing its sugarcane industry . . . Every precious crystal represents the creative energy and aspiration of an island that just won't take no for an answer," wrote award-winning writer Joanna Blythman in The Observer Food Monthly.

She also quoted Minister of Agriculture Erskine Griffith reiterating the need for a local sugar industry while cautioning against depending solely
on tourism.

Docherty said the product was also sold in Barbados, St Kitts, Antigua and St Lucia.

"It's actually easier to sell in the Caribbean, but Tesco's has 1 252 stores. It's tough and expensive to market outside of the Caribbean . . . but in Britain you can buy gourmet salt and other foods, but gourmet sugar didn't exist," he added.

Plantation Reserve is made from the most pure, clean and ripe canes at the height of the sugar season; and the juice therefore takes longer to crystallise than standard local sugar which takes about three hours. The reserve brand takes eight hours.