GuySuCo pushing for early finish of Enmore packaging facility

The Enmore sugar packaging plant is near completion, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said yesterday, but the hand-over date is not what officials in the industry had hoped for and they are currently considering how to have it done sooner.

Sugar brief: Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud (centre) listens as M.N Krishnamurthy, a sugar industry consultant from India, updates him on the Enmore packaging plant. Chairman of GuySuCo’s board, Dr. Nanda Gopaul (left) looks on in the company of other industry officials.

A progress report on the plant yesterday put the completion date in early November, with some 75% of the work already completed. The contractor, Surendra Brothers out of India, also unveiled much of the equipment that has been procured.

Persaud said the plant is critical to the viability of the sugar industry but he also stressed that there is growing demand for packaged sugar on international markets. He toured the facility yesterday in the company of senior industry officials, including GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer Paul Bhim.

Referring to the plant as an important project within the industry as it moves towards value-added products, he said focus is simultaneously being placed on the Enmore factory so that it can process the type of sugar that would be packaged at the plant. Initially, sugar would have to be moved from the Blairmont Estate to facilitate packaging at the plant.

Bhim told reporters that by the first crop of 2011, they are hoping to have the sugar available at Enmore to feed the operations at the plant; modifications are currently being conducted at the Enmore factory to boost production and quality.  There has been some delay at the factory because they cannot work on the modifications during the in-crop period.

Persaud stressed that government is keeping a “very close eye” on the project because some US$12M in state resources have been pumped into it.  He said too that the plant is also part of the indicators for the release of funds from the European Union. “Time-lines being met are very important, particularly if we are going to access EU funding for the accompanying measures,” he noted.

He reiterated that the EU price cuts take full effect this year, noting that this amounts to a loss in $10B in potential revenue. Persaud said that is why government needs to ensure that investments are timely and that when they are on stream, “they perform and perform well.”

The Enmore plant would have a capacity to initially process around 40,000 tonnes of sugar a year, but with an available supply of cane the capacity increases to 80,000 tonnes per annum.  Cane cultivation and sugar production in general have to be ramped up to support the new initiatives in the factory, Persaud stated.

With the plant in operation, government intends to bring in external advisors to have an independent look at it. In addition, it is also focusing on developing the skills base of the industry. Persaud said too that part of the plan includes looking at sourcing competent individuals from overseas to work in the plant and then transitioning to a local employment base.

In response to questions about the flagship factory at Skeldon, Persaud said it had been “slacking up” in terms of cultivation generally. However, he added that the aim is to get Skeldon to start operating at optimum capacity, “not withstanding the challenges we have been facing.”

But the industry is improving, he declared, noting that GuySuCo went from a $6B loss in 2008 to an operating profit of around $85M or “closer to $100M” last year. He did, however, point out that the industry had to rely on a capital injection of $4B on a land sale, adding that “this cannot continue.” Further, he said there was a deferral in the repayment of the funds borrowed to build the Skeldon factory; close to $1.5B.

He mentioned also that the industry saved close to $1B due to improvements in procurement practices, and he added that it also has to improve agronomical practices and bring down costs. According to him, the goal is to bring down the cost of production.  “…This is not an overnight process but we are in for the long haul,” he added.

In response to a question on labour force, Persaud said turnout has not been at the required level at the “required time” in the industry. However, he said workers are calling for more mechanization. He added that the “critics of the industry are the critics of the administration who say that increased mechanization will reduce the labour force.”