I have taken the passage from the book to give it context:
'But was there anything exceptional about the production ofsugar that gave it a special role in stimulating economic development? Was it in any sense what used to be called a strategic industry? Compared to most industries, including
those listed in Table 10-1, it provided relatively small inputs to other industries. The sugar-refining industry must have been somewhat smaller than the paper-manufacturing industry shown in Table 10-1. Compared to iron or coal or even textiles, sugar was not a large intermediate product. The sugar
sector did make possible the purchase of a wide range of consumer products in the Caribbean and England on the part of absentee owners, but then so did all the other industries in Table 10-1. The key point to remember here, however, is
that, unlike all other domestic activities, the products entering the sugar sector were recorded in British trade statistics for the simple reason that the industry was '
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