GuySuCo unlikely to meet revised sugar target

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is likely to meet its revised sugar production target for 2011, the head of the largest workers’ union said yesterday.

Several months ago, the corporation had revised its initial target of 300,000 tonnes, set in the first quarter of this year, to 282,000 tonnes.

Efforts by this newspaper to reach GuySuCo Chief Executive Officer Paul Bhim yesterday were futile.

However, according to Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU) President Komal Chand, figures he received last Saturday indicated that the production figures stood at 205,000 tonnes and he noted that with a few weeks remaining in the year, it is unlikely that the corporation will be able to reach the revised target.

He said that the key factor which affects production is the weather.

Chand noted that the weather conditions across the country have been favourable within recent weeks but according to him, “at the moment, good or bad weather, we will not be able to achieve the target.”

He said that the out of crop season would have begun as of today but according to him GuySuCo has extended the period. He added that sugar workers traditionally do not work after the first half of December.

Late in September, Bhim said that GuySuCo was on stream to achieve its revised target for the year.