GUYANA is expected to build a sugar refinery from the $20 billion the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration said it will plug into the sugar industry in the next five years, if re-elected to office.

The sugar used by local manufacturing companies is a specialty sugar, which is liquid in form. The sugar crystals bought from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) are converted to specialty sugar and sold to the manufacturing companies.
For example, a beverage company that needs sugar may not buy it from GuySuCo directly, but from another company buying from GuySuCo, which then converts it to specialty sugar.
“Why don’t we take over that role, produce the sugar and then do value-added. So when we talk about $20 billion or more, we are talking about not only upgrading of our factories to produce sugar crystals at a more efficient rate, we are also talking about converting our factories to do other things,” Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy told the Guyana Chronicle in a recent interview.
With a refinery, he said, it will allow GuySuCo to pick and choose products to produce by keeping an eye on how global prices shift.

“So that’s where we are going with this. Packaged sugar is important, we have been selling bulk sugar and other people have been packaging it. There was a time when our sugar went to another country, gets packaged and was sent back to Guyana,” he told this publication.
The refinery is part of a wide plan by GuySuCo to return the industry to economic viability through diversification. And the refinery will be of great benefit to Guyana.
“Right now we sell sugar to Europe, they convert it to refined sugar for their own market and some come back here. Every time we use refined sugar, remember that it is Guyana’s sugar that went somewhere else and came back here more expensive,” Dr Ramsammy said.
BIO-ETHANOL
Extensive focus is also being placed on the production of bio-ethanol as work continues on crafting a legislative framework that will create a US$100 million market from the sale of blended fuel for the transportation sector.
But the work begins with the upgrading of all the sugar factories throughout Guyana. This is one component of an overall plan the current Government will roll-out if re-elected to office, preferably with a majority in the Parliament.
And the funding will also come from the minimum sum of $20 billion promised in the PPP/C’s Manifesto.
Dr Ramsammy acknowledged that significant work has been done on the Skeldon Sugar Factory in Region 6 (East Berbice-Corentyne), and part of the $20 billion will be spent on further work to ensure the factory functions at optimum.
LIFELINE
The Guyana Sugar Corporation Modernisation Project at Skeldon is to be the lifeline of the sugar industry in the future.
The project involves expanding cane cultivations, the establishment of a refinery and facilitating the co-generation of electricity for the national grid.
The factory enhancement will see the boiler systems at the plants at Albion and Rose Hall, Region 6; Blairmont, Region 5 (Mahaica-Berbice); Wales and Uitvlugt, Region 3 (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); and Enmore, Region 4 (Demerara-Mahaica) being upgraded to improve their respective capacities.
NEW BOILERS
In some cases, new boilers will be added to improve production capacity over a 24-hour period. Dr Ramsammy said the broader intention is to equip the factories to be on slate as the industry moves to diversify its commodities.
“In the case of Albion, we have made it very, very clear. Albion will become a major producer of bio-ethanol. The plant there is a small plant but it allows us to develop the skills to operate a bio-ethanol plant. So GuySuCo workers are gaining valuable experience in running a bio-ethanol plant. We are also doing work to ensure that the bio-ethanol plant, once we are very familiar with how it operates, we have the skills to expand it.”
The objective, the Minister explained, is to produce bio-ethanol for local commercial use, supporting value-added in the industry while aiding in its economic buoyancy and health.
Government spends about US$5 million annually on the purchase of ethanol. The ethanol imported is used primarily in food production, cleaning of hospitals, factories and laboratories. A portion of the $20 billion will also go towards the mechanisation of the sugar industry.

By Tajeram Mohabir