The Guyana Sugar Corporation has been forced to prematurely close its second crop of 2010 due to the low turnout of harvesters for the entire week, despite exceedingly good weather for harvesting. The corporation said in a press release that attendance record beginning from December 27th 2010 was as follows: Monday – Nil; Tuesday – 11 percent; Wednesday – 15 percent; Thursday – 12 percent Friday – Nil.
“The Corporation was keen on continuing its grinding operations until January 7, 2011. This was mainly due to the large amount of cane still in the fields to be harvested and the fact that each tonne of sugar produced will realise desperately needed cash for the industry,” the press release said.
“However, with attendance averaging 7.6 percent for the past five days, it is most uneconomical to continue our operations,” GuySuCo said.
The corporation said that production for the year thus far stands at 220,826, but will increase slightly when those factories which are in the final stages of production make their final declaration.
“The Corporation looks forward to a much more positive stance from the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union in the new year and would rather ignore its unfortunate attempts to justify the negative effects of the 250 strikes for 2010 on the final production figures of the industry,” said GuySuCo.
Production for 2010 was marginally above 233,000 tonnes. The production for 2010 will be the lowest the company has recorded since 1991.