Just Us! Fair Trade Certified Organic Sugar
Sugar Crystals (Product of Paraguay) available in 1kg - $3.99 & 4 kg - $14.50
Sugar is big business with over 35 million tons produced each year. 75% of all sugar is produced from sugarcane in hotter climates and the rest from beetroot in cooler regions.
Sugar cane production grew enormously with slave plantations in South America and the Caribbean with an estimated 4 - 7 million African slaves. Slavery was abolished in the 19th Century but today the tens of millions of sugarcane producers and their families live in dire poverty.
Sugarcane is a tall, green coloured grass that grows between 2.5 and 4.5 meters high. The sweet juice found in the stem is extracted by passing it through a set of rollers. The juice is then partially evaporated by centrifugal drying, which leaves behind the cane crystals.
Benefits of Fair Trade
- Producers are organized as cooperatives which they own and govern democratically.
- Producers guaranteed minimum price which in effect doubles their income and allows them to "buy livestock" send their children to school and expand production
- Environment standards restrict use of agrochemicals and encourage sustainability
- A social premium is paid to the cooperative for community development projects such as education, health services, processing equipment or small loans to members.
Just Us! buys sugar directly from a group of small cooperatives in the region of Arroyos y Esteros (Steams and Meadows) in central Paraquay. 
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