The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) said yesterday that it was forced to prematurely close the second crop because of low turnout of harvesters across the estates which were still grinding.
The crop was scheduled to end on January 7, but according to GuySuCo the low attendance record from the start of this week proved uneconomical to continue operations; the attendance averaged around 7.6 percent.
GuySuCo released the attendance record for the week, saying that harvesters did not turn out on Monday and or Friday (yesterday), in addition to 11 percent on Tuesday; 15 percent on Wednesday and 12 percent on Thursday. “The Corporation was keen on continuing its grinding operations until January 7, 2010. This was mainly due to the large amount of canes still in the fields to be harvested and the fact that each tonne of sugar produced will realise desperately needed cash for the industry,” the corporation said.
GuySuCo said that production currently stands at 220,826 tonnes, but that this will increase slightly when the factories which are in the last stages of production make their final declaration.
GuySuCo said too that is looking forward to “a much more positive stance” from the GAWU for the New Year, noting that it would ignore the attempts of the union to justify the negative effects the strikes called in 2010 had on final production figures of the industry.
GAWU, in a statement on Thursday, said poor worker turnout is normal given that sugar workers also take a break to spend time with their families.
