The growers, through their negotiating team spearheaded by Dr. Henry Canton, presented a business plan to the banks, and one of the main points of this plan was that the Company would divest itself of its non-core assets (mainly citrus groves) and concentrate on the processing side of the business. Proceeds of the sale of the groves would be used to reduce debts and provide the company with much needed cash flow. In addition to selling certain groves, the company also leased some of its groves to growers on concessionary terms.

The Board of Directors agreed to a list of properties that it wished to dispose of and set tentative prices. In order to ensure transparency, the matter was discussed with the company?s lawyers, who recommended that tenders be invited for the purchase of the properties. The lawyers advised the company to advertise for 45 days in order to ensure that everyone had sufficient time to submit tenders. The tender notice was published in various newspapers over a period, but a copy can be found in the Amandala newspaper issue # 1875 dated July 4, 2004.

All tenders were sent to Barrow & Williams and the law firm opened the tenders. There was only one tender, dated July 15th2004, for the property in question, and that was from Mr. William Bowman, OBE, for $300,000. Remember that each grower had the chance to submit a tender for this particular property but no one other than Mr. Bowman did so.

The Board of Directors, at its meeting of August 18, 2004, considered this particular tender, and Mr. Bowman was asked to leave the meeting when the matter was being discussed. Also, Dr. Canton said that he would abstain from voting on this issue. Bearing in mind the company?s commitment to its bankers, and the need for cash flow, the Board decided to accept the offer of $300,000 for this particular property. There was no coercion or collusion in this decision. This acceptance of the offer was subject to approval from First Caribbean Bank, who had a mortgage on the property. The bank gave its consent for the property to be sold for this price.

Contrary to what Mr. Jenkins? letter states, the hurricanes that devastated Florida?s grapefruit had not yet occurred at the time the decision was made, and in fact, citrus prices were at an all time low. The hurricanes in question were subsequent events in September 2004, and the hurricanes could easily have devastated the citrus groves in Belize.

Citrus farming is a long term endeavor and prices fluctuate from year to year. In the final analysis, the true value of real estate is what someone is willing to pay in a willing buyer/seller market. If Mr. Jenkins or anyone else was interested in purchasing the property, why did they not submit a bid? There was no cost to submit a bid.

Mr. Jenkins has suggested that there was collusion on the part of the Board of Directors of CPBL in agreeing to this transaction. The Board considers this an insult to both the Board as a whole and to the Directors individually.

From the time CGA took over the control of CPBL, Mr. Jenkins has been on a crusade to discredit the management of both Citrus Growers Association and Citrus Products of Belize Ltd. We are not certain what his motivation is, but the Board of CPBL will not tolerate his injurious and defamatory comments.

The new Board and management team of CPBL have managed to turn the company around and the company expects to show a profit in the next financial year. This would be the first time that Del Oro, now CPBL, has ever shown a profit. Also CPBL is presently processing the largest citrus crop in the entire history of the citrus industry in Belize. The fact that the growers were willing to rehabilitate and maintain their groves to produce this crop is a clear indication of trust by the growers in their Association and in CPBL. All growers will benefit from the present prices being paid for grapefruit and oranges.

Sincerely,

Ricardo I. Escalante

Chairperson