THE Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) said it has completed 15 weeks of grinding for the current crop and to date has produced 118,180 tonnes sugar. As of week ending November 6, 2015, Skeldon and Blairmont Estates surpassed their weekly target while Albion, Rose Hall and Enmore Estates achieved 91.43%, 90.29% and 90.26% respectively. Last week Blairmont recorded its highest daily production of 240 tonnes sugar for this crop.This performance comes against the background of a restive sugar industry with threats of strike action by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) the latest of which was aborted on Sunday. Additionally, GuyaSuCo said in a release that Skeldon Estate supplied the Guyana Power and Light Inc. with 1,110,600 KWh of electricity using bagasse fuel. This brings the total power supplied for the year to date to 33,436,630 KWh.
As at November 9, 2015, sugar production for the second crop to date is 118,180 tonnes, 80.7 % of the estimate for the crop. 199,323 tonnes has been produced for the year to date which represents 87.6 % of the total sugar production estimated for the year. Only last Friday, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo urged all sugar workers and their unions to help rescue the industry and not engage in politically motivated strikes. In a statement Nagamootoo alluded to the fact that for the first time in years GuySuCo has been able to reach and surpass weekly targets. “The government encourages sugar workers to remain committed to their jobs and, with the holiday season approaching, to earn as much as they can before the current crop comes to an end,” Nagamootoo said.
He added that the government finds as most disturbing the agitation, mainly by GAWU, for workers to engage in strike action. “Such action could cripple operations and close down the sugar industry. This is especially alarming and regrettable now that efforts are being made to breathe life into the industry.”
The Prime Minister said government has been looking at all options to revive the industry, which was placed in a state of bankruptcy and almost total ruin by the former PPP/C administration.
Highlighting the issues of GuySuCo over the years, the Prime Minister said production slumped from 327,000 metric tonnes in the 1960s to an average of below 250,000 tonnes between 2008 and 2014. Additionally, under the former administration, the sugar industry never came close to realising the promised 500,000 tonnes target. Between 2009 and 2015 GuySuCo not only failed to make a profit, but suffered estimated total losses of $67.8 billion, the Prime Minister said.
Moreover, he noted that “when the last administration left office, GuySuCo’s debt burden stood at $82 billion.” He said it is “therefore irrefutable that under that administration, GuySuCo had lost its way. It is for this reason that the coalition government supported a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the sugar industry. “The interim report has confirmed the poor and declining state of GuySuCo as a result of political interference, poor management and squandermania,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo asserted.
Noting that GuySuCo is on its way to success, Nagamotoo said that after a mere five months in office, the coalition government is seeking to put a 10-Year Road Map and Action Plan in place, aimed at returning the industry to viability.