Seprod Layoffs Jamaica Hit 141 Workers Over Sugar Tax and Sales
Jamaica · Business
Key Facts
- —What happened Seprod temporarily laid off 141 workers at one of its factories for three weeks, applied on a rotation basis.
- —Why the company says it did it Falling sales, inventory build-up, economic conditions, the hotel industry and the cost of the sugar tax, chief executive Richard Pandohie said.
- —The catch Seprod nearly doubled its 2025 profit, but the Gleaner said a gain on investment property boosted that result.
- —What the tax is A consumption tax on every gram of added sugar in non-alcoholic sweetened drinks, in force since 1 May 2026.
- —Who the company is Seprod, founded in 1940, is a Jamaican manufacturing and distribution group listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
- —What the government said Christopher Tufton, Minister of Health and Wellness, invited Seprod’s chief executive to talks and suggested using less sugar.
The layoffs Seprod announced this week are temporary, not redundancies. One of the island’s largest manufacturers blames a new tax on sugar and weak sales.
The Seprod layoffs Jamaica learned of this week affect 141 workers at a single factory. Seprod is one of the island’s largest manufacturers and distributors, and it says the move is temporary.
The company blames a new tax on sugar in drinks and a slide in sales. The Jamaica Gleaner reported it, and the chief executive confirmed it.
The pause runs for three weeks and is applied on a rotation basis. It was set to begin the Monday after the report appeared.
The Seprod layoffs Jamaica is debating
Seprod has not named the plant or the product line involved.
“Yes, we are temporarily doing layoff for three weeks at one of the factories,” said Richard Pandohie, the chief executive. The company’s word for it is temporary layoff, not redundancy.
Jamaican law, not the employer’s wording, decides when a layoff becomes redundancy. The test is duration.
The rule sits in the Employment (Termination and Redundancy Payments) Act. Section 5A(1) covers a worker laid off without pay for more than 120 days.
Such a worker may elect in writing to be treated as dismissed for redundancy. Three weeks falls far short of that threshold, so this pause does not reach it.
Neither report says whether these workers are paid during the pause. The clock in section 5A(1) runs only on layoffs without pay.
What Seprod actually is
Seprod Limited was founded in 1940 and trades on the Jamaica Stock Exchange under the ticker SEP. It calls itself one of the region’s most diversified conglomerates.
Its work spans manufacturing, distribution and export. Its brands include Serge, Chiffon, Butterkist and Cool Fruit, and it sells from Trinidad and Guyana to the Cayman Islands.
How the sugar tax changed shape
The tax behind the layoffs is only months old, and it was rewritten before it ever started. Two versions matter.
Fayval Williams is Minister of Finance and the Public Service. In the February 2026 budget she announced a Special Consumption Tax on non-alcoholic sweetened beverages.
That first version was volumetric, at J$0.02 for every millilitre of liquid (about US$0.00013), due to start on 1 April 2026. The Jamaica Information Service said that rate was set “for reasons of administrative simplicity”.
William Mahfood, chairman of the drinks group Wisynco Group Limited, called that proposal “prejudicial” on 24 March 2026. He said it treated low-sugar and high-sugar products alike.
Mahfood put it bluntly. “This is effectively a tax on poor people—$10 billion coming out of the pockets of the average man on the street.”
That J$10 billion is about US$63.7 million. His objection was aimed at the flat February design.
Williams answered the same day, closing the Budget Debate. She replaced the volumetric charge with one based on sugar content, and moved the start to 1 May 2026.
The new rate is J$0.22 for every gram of added sugar, about US$0.0014 a gram. Drinks with no added sugar pay nothing at all.
Figures here are converted at J$156.95 to US$1. That was the Bank of Jamaica’s foreign-exchange intervention settlement price on 17 September 2026.
“It is the sugar that causes the harm, so it is the sugar that should be taxed,” Williams said. The Jamaica Observer headlined the revision “Sugar tax diluted”, while the Gleaner called it a “Tax tweak”.
Deborah Chen, executive director of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, called the tax a “long-overdue win” for public health.
The Jamaica Information Service and the Jamaica Observer put the tax’s expected yield at J$10.1 billion (about US$64.4 million).
It was one of a package of new measures meant to raise J$18 billion (about US$114.7 million). That is additional revenue for the new fiscal year, not the state’s total.
What Seprod says has happened to sales
Pandohie pointed to falling volumes and stock piling up in warehouses. “We have seen sales decline and this has led to significant inventory build-up that we need to normalise,” he said.
He also cited general economic conditions, and said the hotel industry impact is real. “Retailers in areas like Hanover are still trying to recover,” he said.
Hanover is a parish on Jamaica’s western end. No figure has been reported for what the tax has cost the business.
The government answers
Christopher Tufton, Minister of Health and Wellness, met the layoffs with an invitation rather than a rebuke. He asked the company’s chief executive for talks.
“Maybe consider reformulation to put less sugar; would be good for sales,” Tufton said. He added that the company “could get in the schools for example”, and offered a dialogue.
Profit up, jobs paused
Seprod reported revenue of J$153.6 billion (about US$978.7 million) for the year to December 2025. Net profit came in at J$5.0 billion (about US$31.9 million), up 91% on 2024.
The Gleaner reported that the result was boosted by a gain on investment property booked in its operations. Fourth-quarter profit alone was J$2.44 billion (about US$15.5 million) of that total.
Export sales held at J$5.9 billion (about US$37.6 million) despite a new 10% United States tariff.
The layoffs came seven months after those results were published on 18 February 2026. They came nine months after the financial year they covered had ended.
What it means for a foreign reader
For outsiders, the Seprod layoffs Jamaica has been following are an early test of a new tax. A three-week pause on a rotation is not a permanent job loss.
Neither report says whether the three weeks could be extended.
Visitors will notice the argument on the shelf and the drinks list. Sweeter drinks now carry a charge that unsweetened ones do not.
More: Caribbean coverage, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Seprod layoffs Jamaica is talking about?
Seprod, one of Jamaica’s largest manufacturers and distributors, temporarily laid off 141 workers at one of its factories. The pause runs for three weeks and is applied on a rotation basis. Chief executive Richard Pandohie said the company was “temporarily doing layoff for three weeks at one of the factories”. Seprod has not named the plant or the product line involved.
What is a temporary layoff in Jamaica?
It is a pause in work rather than the end of the job, and the law decides the difference by duration rather than by the employer’s wording. Under section 5A(1) of the Employment (Termination and Redundancy Payments) Act, a worker laid off without pay for more than 120 days may elect in writing to be treated as dismissed for redundancy. Three weeks is far short of that threshold, so no statutory redundancy payment is triggered by length. Neither report says whether these workers are paid during the pause.
What is Jamaica’s new sugar tax?
It was announced twice. In the February 2026 budget the Special Consumption Tax on non-alcoholic sweetened beverages was volumetric, at J$0.02 per millilitre (about US$0.00013), due to start on 1 April 2026. Closing the Budget Debate on 24 March 2026, Finance Minister Fayval Williams replaced that with a charge on sugar content and moved the start to 1 May 2026. The rate is now J$0.22 for every gram of added sugar, about US$0.0014 a gram, and drinks with no added sugar pay nothing.
How did the government respond to the layoffs?
Christopher Tufton, Minister of Health and Wellness, answered the layoffs with an invitation to talks. He suggested reformulating products with less sugar, saying it “would be good for sales” and could open the door to school sales. Finance Minister Fayval Williams has defended the tax itself, arguing that the sugar causes the harm and so the sugar should be taxed.
Sources: The Jamaica Gleaner on the 141 temporary layoffs, The Jamaica Gleaner on the health minister’s invitation, The Jamaica Gleaner on the March redesign of the tax, The Jamaica Information Service on the switch to sugar content, Advocacy Incubator on the tax taking effect, The Jamaica Observer on the February budget measures, The Jamaica Gleaner on Seprod’s 2025 profit, Seprod on its brands and operating companies, Bank of Jamaica on the exchange rate
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