Having harvested 91% of its crop, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has found itself on track to achieving its first crop target of 33,863 tonnes of sugar, the company’s Corporate Communications Manager, Audreyanna Thomas says.
Thomas provided Stabroek News with figures for the sugar company’s performance for their first crop of the year, revealing that they have so far produced 30,905 tonnes of sugar across the industry. The current government has shut four estates so the first crop output is low compared to previous years.
For that first crop figure, the Albion Estate has produced 15,462 tonnes of sugar out of its targeted 18,511 tonnes, while the Blairmont Estate has produced 8,879 tonnes of sugar, surpassing its target of 7,955 tonnes.
For the Uitvlugt Estate, so far, 7,397 tonnes of sugar have been produced, surpassing its target of 6,564 tonnes of sugar.
Thomas also related that they are targeting 73,160 tonnes of sugar for the second crop, which would bring their estimated target for the entire year to 107,023 tonnes of sugar.
She also revealed that the three estates— Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt—have had an average attendance of 63%, 62% and 66%, respectively.
The estates have also, for the first crop, made nine days’ pay or Weekly Production Incentive, with the Albion and Blairmont Estates getting two and three days’ pay, while the Uitvlugt Estate recorded four days’ pay.
Last year, for the first crop, the sugar company had produced 34,450 tonnes of sugar, failing to meet its target of 36,105 tonnes of sugar, which was the lowest ever first crop for the industry.
For 2017, GuySuCo fell short of a projected figure for the first crop by some 24,566 tonnes of sugar, as they were only able to produce 49,606 tonnes out of a projected 74,172 tonnes of sugar.
In 2016, the sugar company also fell short of its first crop target of 80,270 tonnes of sugar and was only able to produce 56,825 tonnes.
For the previous year, GuySuCo’s production had fallen below its first crop target of 86,201 tonnes, as they were only able to produce 81,194 tonnes of sugar, approximately 5,000 tonnes below the target. However, 2015’s figure was an increase over the previous year’s first crop production of 75,000 tonnes of sugar.
