In spite of various challenges, the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) management says it is optimistic of meeting the first sugar crop target of 80,500 tonnes, GINA said.
According to Finance Director, Paul Bhim, the production up to Monday was 11,243 tonnes. He said that all of the factories recently started grinding except for Skeldon which is due to begin on Thursday. Observers say this would be a late start as was the case last year.
Despite the prevailing dry conditions, GINA reported Bhim as saying that GuySuCo has been managing its water supply and some recent rainfall has helped in this regard.
Bhim said that the industry is seeking to continue reversing its “ineffective performance” and return to profitability eventually. GINA said that the merging of the Wales and Uitvlugt estates is one of the measures being taken to ensure this goal is achieved. The overall target for 2016 is approximately 240,000 tonnes.
GuySuCo’s first crop target for 2015 was 86,201 tonnes and the corporation produced 81,194 tonnes.
GuySuCo achieved 231, 145 tonnes of sugar in 2015 surpassing its 227, 443 tonnes target. The full year target had originally been 241,503 tonnes. After an 11-year gap, the second crop target of 146, 300 tonnes was surpassed by more than 3, 700 tonnes. The second crop target was a modest one by historic standards.
Government has approved a subvention of $9 Billion for the heavily-indebted corporation for 2016.
