THE Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has confirmed that a sugar production target for 2017 is yet to be decided on.Last year the Government had expended $9B at the start of the year on the sugar industry, but later made another billion-dollar bailout, with members of the National Assembly in October, 2016 approving $2B for the cash-strapped corporation.

However, despite the challenges the industry faced, it was last reported that the industry was 2,000 tonnes shy of meeting their second-crop target of 137,764 tonnes of sugar.

It was also disclosed by Sugar Corporation’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Ms Audreyanna Thomas, that the second-crop target had initially been pegged at 159,000 tonnes. Thomas said the company was forced to settle for 137, 764 tonnes, a shortfall of a whopping 93,307 tonnes on 2015’s output, due to the inclement weather.

The same holds true for the original overall target for 2016, which was initially pegged at 239, 513 tonnes.

Nevertheless, the struggles of 2016 have seemingly entered 2017, with GuySuCo still in the process of finalising the targets, although in the past projections were already finalised and cultivation of the first crop would have commenced.
Thomas however indicated that the industry is moving forward given that stakeholders met in December to decide the way forward for the industry.
The second meeting of the stakeholders is yet to be decided but, the Corporation’s PRO said that things are still happening in the industry at the moment.