Sugar production falls to 80-year low -no funding for turnaround plan

Dec 21, 2019 News

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Sugar production this year will not reach 100,000 tonnes and will be the lowest production of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) in its now 43-year history.

“In fact, when we checked our records which go back to 1940, it is the lowest production ever,” the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) said at its year-end press conference.
Present at the event were President, Komal Chand, and General Secretary, Seepaul Narine, among others.
GAWU, the largest sugar union, is battling a huge chunk of its membership dues being sliced in an industry that has been contracting rapidly in the last decade.
Aging estates and poor agriculture combined with low prices have been contributing to the situation which led to the Coalition Government closing four estates in the last four years.
“During the year, our union too, on several occasions, expressed concern about the level of production. With production coming to an end this weekend, it is apparent that the sugar corporation will not even be able to realize the revised production we had estimated.”
The smaller-sized GuySuCo targeted 109,706 tonnes for the year but has managed only 93,875 tonnes.
“It is an unfortunate turn of events for the industry which has the possibilities to record much higher levels of production,” the union disclosed.
The production, especially in the second crop, was affected by the poor reliability of the industry’s factories.
“Apart from the non-achievement of the target, large quantities of canes earmarked to be harvested will have to be carried-over into the first crop of 2020. At Albion, 950 hectares of canes are expected to stand unharvested when the crop ends, at Blairmont nearly 615 hectares are estimated to be left back and at Uitvlugt 135 hectares were not harvested. By the time the canes are harvested next year they will be over-matured.”
Regarding the breakdown of the factories, the union reminded that $30B has been borrowed in GuySuCo’s name to address issues at the three remaining factories – Albion, Uitvlugt and Blairmont.
“We further note that the breakdowns are occurring when a number of retired personnel had been recruited, which makes us wonder whether they are up to their responsibilities.”
Making its case for the industry, GAWU stressed that GuySuCo plays an indispensible role in contributions to the social and economic life in rural Guyana. It pointed out that it was the president, David Granger, who had anticipated within three to five years the industry would be economically viable.
The union was critical of the fact there has been no pay increase for a number of years for the 10,000-plus sugar workers.
“Today brings us to 1,814 days since sugar workers pay rates have remained stagnated. Over the last few weeks, the workers and the Union have heightened their call for a pay rise. A petition supported by thousands of workers to President Granger remains unanswered though the President has committed to providing a response after he heard from the sugar company.”
According to GAWU, workers and their families continue to suffer.
The union complained of being sidelined from even being aware of what GuySuCo and the Government had in mind for the industry.
“While some tidbits were shared here and there, our union demanded, rightly we believe, that the corporation engages us on its plan. Our continued insistence paid-off when the corporation at last, on November 20, invited us to share some details of its plan. From our interaction with GuySuCo, we learnt that the corporation is intent on improving field productivity, going into further mechanization and rehabilitating its factories. Apart from those investments, the Corporation aims to construct a white sugar plant and a cogeneration plant at Albion. There is also a plan to establish a co-generation facility at Blairmont and to expand that estate’s packaging plant.”
At Uitvlugt, GuySuCo plans to improve its facilities to produce more bagged sugar and is examining the establishment of a distillery at that location as well.
“Our Union has sought a copy of the plan to examine it more carefully and to determine the reliability of the assumptions and conclusions. The Corporation did commit to sharing with us the document after it had completed some updating. So far, our request remains unfulfilled and we must wonder whether it will take us another year before we get the document.”
GAWU said it is still unclear on financing.
The union was also critical of the conflict between NICIL-SPU and GuySuCo.
“The disagreement between these two state-operated agencies became very heated and the animosities spilt over into the media. As we conclude 2019, it appears to us, that while the public spats may have abated, at least for now, the conflict is no closer to being resolved. The continued withholding of sugar bond financing from the GuySuCo indicates that all is not well and relations between the bodies have not healed.”
According to the union, the entire imbroglio that is unfolding, is yet another manifestation of the administration’s “mis-adventure” and, undoubtedly, poor policy-making regarding the sugar industry.
The union also highlighted the divestment process of four closed sugar estates.
“Those plans have all but been abandoned and NICIL-SPU has begun the disposal of several movable assets. We had learnt earlier this year, that tractors, motorcycles and agricultural implements were sold at what could be deemed basement prices. It was opined that the assets disposed could have obtained far higher prices.
Also, there were concerns regarding whether the sale prices resembled the valuation that was carried out. Then, of course, we recall concerns being raised about the sale of so-called scrap iron from the closed estates. That sale, we understand, brought in a large sum, and again it was felt that higher prices could have been obtained. In fact, our Union was made to understand, that one buyer who purchased the ‘scrap iron’ at the Wales factory made a hefty profit from the deal.”

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