The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) quality management system for the production of genuine Demerara cane sugar was upgraded from 9001: 2000 to 9001: 2008 at a recent surveillance audit by SGS, the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company.

The achievement comes in light of strides by GuySuCo to ready itself for a significant increase in production of direct consumption branded packaged sugars.

According to a release, the Corporation is placing special emphasis on ensuring its products adhere to and maintain high international standards.

GuySuCo, the release said, is the only sugar producer in the Caribbean that is internationally certified.

The company’s Marketing and Trade Department, Human Resources Department, Head Office, Materials Management Department and Factory and Human Resources Department of Blairmont Estate all operate under the International Standard Organisation (ISO) Quality Management System.

GuySuCo Quality Assurance Manager, Mr. Sharma Dwarka, said the Company is venturing into more value added production and greater emphasis will be placed on production quality and consistency.

He said GuySuCo remains fully committed to customer satisfaction, continual improvement of its products and services, and management will ensure compliance to all regulatory requirements.

“The Corporation has implemented an internal audit system to ensure continued maintenance and improvement of the system to meet the requirements of standards ahead of international inspections,” he pointed out.

The release stated that as a result of benefits from the implemented system, best practices at Blairmont are now being introduced at Enmore, where construction is currently underway on the 1.2 billion dollar Project Gold packaging plant.

It also reported that training exercises are on stream, involving personnel from the factory department at the East Coast of Demerara location, to make certain they are prepared well in advance of the completion of the project.

GuySuCo is targeting the production of some 125,000 tonnes of value added sugar annually which will be marketed extensively in Guyana, as well as on strategic markets around the world.

The Corporation’s overall goal is to produce in excess of 400,000 tonnes of sugar on an annual basis over the coming years.