Sugar first crop dismal

Paul Bhim

Sugar production for the first crop this year as of May 6th was 67,299 tonnes – the lowest figure for over two decades – and the output from the US$200M flagship Skeldon factory was only 6,596 tonnes which was surpassed by Uitvlugt, historically the poorest performer.

Former PNCR parliamentarian and former sugar industry executive, Tony Vieira noted in the letter columns of this newspaper on Monday that up to the weekend of May 6, the sugar industry produced a total of 67,299 tonnes of sugar which he termed a new low in first crop production for over 20 years. In 2011, he said that at the end of the first crop the industry had produced 106,627 tonnes of sugar.

GuySuCo CEO Paul Bhim told Stabroek News on Monday that the information provided by Vieira is correct but he