THE article carried in Kaiteur News edition of Sunday 26th August 2012, regarding the Packaging Plant at Enmore attempts to inform its readership that GuySuCo, and specifically Enmore Estate, is not utilizing the newly constructed plant. A GuySuco statement yesterday said not only does the Corporation vehemently refute this, but it is appalled at the newspaper’s release of misconstrued information intended to mislead its readership, especially when the newspaper was advised that of the 8,498 tonnes of sugar produced by the Enmore location in the first crop of 2012 – 7,828 tonnes was packaged.
Further, it is also significant to note that the plant started to operate on Wednesday August 22, 2012, four days prior to the release of the article.
The packaging plant accommodated a request by Kaiteur News for a visit on 18th August, during which informal discussions were held with managers, with an understanding that the newspaper will return on full resumption of operations. It is true, at the time of the visit, the plant was not operational and for genuine operational reasons inherent with production of raw brown sugar for direct consumption.
Grinding operations commenced at Enmore on July 31, 2012. During the period July 31 to August 18, erratic weather conditions affected continuous cane supply to the factory, hence sugar production and ‘sugar flow-through’ on recently maintained equipment was reduced.
Factory equipment underwent significant maintenance work during the last out-of-crop period and it is standard operating practice for a sugar plant of this nature to ensure that the first batches of sugar be directed to bulk (bulk is intended for re-processing) after a maintenance period (especially a major one). This period allows for operational “fine-tuning” and to guarantee product consistency for direct consumption sugars required for the packaging plant.
The process highlighted above could have been faster if the factory operated continuously; but as mentioned, erratic weather conditions affected cane supply and continuity in operations (i.e. reduced processing time) since the commencement of the crop.
It is on this basis that managers advised that the plant has been focusing on bulk production. Coincidentally, a bulk vessel was being loaded at this time, hence the direct movement of bulk. Enmore was therefore achieving two objectives simultaneously:
* adjusting operations to ensure consistency in product quality for direct consumption sugar;
* aiding with bulk consignments
During non-operational periods for the packaging plant, labour (permanent) is usually directed to other parts of the factory.
It is rather unfortunate that the facts presented were misunderstood. This may be no fault of the reporter, as sugar processing and sugar operations have their own technicalities,” GuySuCo said.