The BSCFA issued a release in Spanish yesterday evening. It is a response to a notice put out by ASR/BSI twelve days ago, in which the company warns that if the BSCFA opts out of the current cane purchasing agreement, BSI would not be able to accept cane from their members.

The nearly 700-word release from the BSCFA bristles at that warning. They say they consider that message to be "a threat and act of intimidation" against their members. The BSCFA says that ASR/BSI is fear-mongering to force their members to accept the non-negotiable terms of ASR/BSI's proposed cane purchase agreement. And to give assurances to those members, the BSCFA stresses that it has not ended its agreement with ASR/BSI and as long as that exists, their members have all rights to deliver cane.

The BSCFA then fires off its own warning to ASR/BSI suggesting that this fear might fuel rage in the cane farming community that [quote] "BSI could regret" [unquote].

The sharply worded release comes out of a stalemate in negotiations over a revised cane purchasing agreement. BSI/ASR wants to introduce amendments and lock a deal up to the year 2022, but the BSCFA wants its own revisions which includes re-opening negotiations over a profit-sharing agreement for Bagasse.