CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Mr. Paul Bhim remains adamant that there is still time to achieve its annual target despite claims to the contrary by senior officials of Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU).

He said he was advised that, as of Thursday morning, 125,000 tonnes of sugar were produced for the second crop and the target is 165,000 tons, while the overall annual stands at 236,000.
For the first crop, this year, 71,000 tonnes were produced, taking current production for 2012 to 195,000. Therefore, an additional 40,000 tonnes will have to be made towards the achievement.
Bhim noted that there are approximately five weeks of production remaining and pointed out that the factories will continue to work until the third week in December, once there is an availability of sugar cane and labour.
He said, though, that the corporation faces a major challenge with labour during the holiday season, since some workers would not show up to work.
Bhim stated that, while individual estates are, currently, performing well, Wales on the West Bank Demerara and Enmore on the East Coast Demerara may “struggle a bit”, in terms of reaching their full capacity. He acknowledged that the latter experienced some labour issues while the former started its production late.
Fall short
He also revealed that Uitvlugt Estate, on the West Coast Demerara, should be closing operations some time during the following week although it is going to fall short on its production.
In addition, Bhim related that Skeldon Factory, at Corentyne, Berbice, which has been performing exceptionally well in the past few months, suffered a setback due to some rainfall in that area, resulting in some down time. Nevertheless, he disclosed that the factory is now back up and production has resumed.
He announced that modification works to Skeldon Factory will begin immediately after the crop production ends and advised that all is in place to start the physical work. Meanwhile, the materials required to execute the job are being shipped.
The South African firm, Bosch has been contracted to fix the problems Skeldon has been experiencing and, although the factory has been performing well for the past few months, the modifications are expected to make it even more efficient.
Meantime, Bhim indicated that all the workers who were previously on strike have returned to work but the issues about which they complained are yet to be resolved and the management will continue to meet with the union to discuss a way forward.
Hundreds of GuySuCo employees belonging to the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) went on strike earlier this month, demanding a 22 percent increase in pay and a further 10 percent hike across the board.