 In mid-1990, the government took an important step toward long-term reform of the sugar industry—and a symbolically important step toward opening the economy—when GuySuCo signed a management contract with the British firms Booker and Tate & Lyle.The Booker company owned most sugar plantations in Guyana until the industry was nationalized in 1976.A study by the two companies reportedly estimated that US$20 million would be needed to rehabilitate Guyana's sugar industry.