THE Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has produced 9,441 tonnes of sugar in its 7th week of production, the highest recorded weekly production since 2012. GuySuCo, in a statement yesterday, said this was made possible through major contributions from Skeldon, Albion, Rose Hall and Blairmont estates which have surpassed their weekly production targets and a 95% achievement by Wales Estate, earning workers weekly incentives.
The achievement was not without its challenges with strikes and poor cane harvester turnout being recorded at Blairmont at 56%.
This has resulted in lower than average punt weight (5.42 tonnes) for the week at that location compared with the industry week’s average of 6.35 tonnes. Skeldon, Albion, Rose Hall and East Demerara estates all recorded over 70% Cane Harvesters attendance for the said week.
“Further to meetings with the union to address this critical area at Wales Estate, improved attendance was seen, from below 50% for the last three crops to above 60% for this current crop,” GuySuCo stated. It said the improved cane supply to the factories resulted in better factory performance.
Skeldon estate has performed commendably for the crop to date and this has resulted in continuous supply of electricity to the grid. For the week just concluded, Skeldon exported 1,184,000 KWh from its turbine generators using bagasse fuel while 24,148,000 KWh has been exported to the grid for the year to date.
Sugar production to date is 46,883 tonnes for the crop and 128,026 tonnes for the year to date. The target for the second crop remains at 146,300 tonnes with production for the year projected at 227,443 tonnes.