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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