Latest update May 19th, 2026 12:10 AM
Sugar first crop falls short by 20,000 tonnes
—Skeldon continues poor run
By Jeanna Pearson
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has fallen short of its 80,500 tonnes first crop production target by 20,000, a source close to corporation disclosed.
This figure is a significant drop from the previous years when production was high, liking it to 2013 when the sugar industry recorded its worst ever first crop of 48,000 tonnes. Last year the Corporation had missed its first crop production target of 86,201, finishing the crop late with a little over 3000 tonnes less. However, it surpassed its 227, 443 tonnes target, and closed its production at 231, 1450 tonnes. While in 2014 the corporation surpassed its target of 75,000 tonnes by 5000 tonnes.
Kaieteur News was informed by the source that the first crop production, which was expected to finish two days ago, will carry on for another three days. The crop is finishing late because of the terrible weather conditions caused by the El Nino.
The corporation, the source said, will be releasing an official statement on the first crop production within another week.
“We will not achieve the target, mainly because of the profound effect El Nino had on the first crop,” the source indicated, explaining that the dry conditions had hit the entire industry, from Skeldon to Uitvlugt.
The most affected estates were the Skeldon and the East Demerara Estates. Although, Skeldon ceased production early, it managed to rake in only 5000 tonnes— 4700 tonnes lewss than what was projected for the estate.
It appears that the estate is continuing along its downward spiral. In 2015 it missed its target by more than half. The target was set at 17,200 tonnes; the estate scraped a dismal 8000 tonnes.
Apart from ongoing troubles at the factory and the dry conditions, Skeldon started grinding late.
Another sugar source told this newspaper that GuySuCo was struggling to reach a 60,000-tonne mark, positing that it is far cry from its projection. “Twenty thousand tonnes less is a significant shortfall from the target. All of the estates are doing badly,” the source stated, adding that the 20,000 deficit will unlikely lessen within the next three days.
The government had injected $9 billion into the corporation for 2016, while the industry is estimated to grow by 4.8 per cent to 242,287 metric tonnes.
Last year’s creditable performance had prompted Finance Minister Winston Jordan to make this projection. “Though this level of production is still below the average achieved in the previous decade, the industry is showing encouraging signs of recovery,” he had said during the 2016 budget debate in January.
And despite dwindling prices, deteriorating equipment and soaring production overheads, the industry is hoping to turn round its unproductive performances—thus the merging of the Wales and Uitvlugt Estates.
The overall target for this year is pegged at 240,000 tonnes. Conventionally, the corporation sets it its two crop production targets at a 40:60 ratio.
The source indicated further that almost all of the estates have missed their target while some of them are continuing to work to reach their marks. Three of those Estates are Blairmont, Rose Hall and Albion. On the other hand, Enmore, Wales and Uitvlugt have closed their production.
However, Uitvlugt made modest attempt to achieve its target. The estate missed its target of 8,200 tonnes, finishing its crop with 7,900. The Wales Estate brought in 5,600 tonnes, which is a shortfall from its projected 8,500 tonnes.
In March, Finance Director Paul Bhim had announced production at 11,243 tonnes. At that time, Bhim had indicated that the industry was battling its way against the unfavourable weather conditions while production was encouraging. It was reported that the corporation was controlling its water supply.
GuySuCo was also hit by a number of strikes organised by Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) to press for wage negotiations, Annual Performance Incentive and to fight against the Wales Estate being shut down. Yet, workers who participated in the strike actions were not paid for that time lost.
In March, it was reported that some 1700 workers staged a strike.
Share this:
Discover more from Kaieteur News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.