One of Linden’s main bakeries and distributors is struggling to obtain an adequate supply of sugar from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), while its CEO maintains that country’s supply has not changed and that demand is in keeping with supply.
Proprietor Stan Smith of Jacs Hotel Restaurant Snackette and Bar told Stabroek News that his bakery uses about four 45kg bags of sugar per day but he has only been able to source 35 bags per month from GuySuCo ; a quarter of his monthly quota. To fill this shortfall, Smith makes purchases from the Riverview Shopping Centre at Wismar a direct buyer from GuySuCo and tries to buy from the Demerara Sugar Terminal (DST), at Ramp Road or from the market. When this newspaper spoke with Smith last week Monday he only had two bags of sugar and was making attempts to source more. In addition, Smith now faces an increased price for sugar. The cost for the 12 bags he buys weekly from Riverview moved from $58,700 to $68,000. Jac’s Bakery has 40 employees and Smith said he had made representations to GuySuCo, with figures showing the need for an increased quota, to no avail.
Riverview Proprietor Basil Jaipaul said Jac’s Bakery “has a real problem.” He said he was familiar with Smith’s plight but owing to a cut in his supply and the increased demand he was forced to cut supplies to the bakery from 21 to 12 bags weekly. Riverview has had to cut supplies to other businesses in the community as well. Jaipaul said he is sometimes only able to supply another bakery in the community with half the sugar quota it needs per week while another large supermarket gets about 35 bags less from the outlet. He said too GuySuCo had increased its sugar prices for a 45kg bag from $3,800 to $4,300, effective January 1 and he had only received notice of this on Monday. This newspaper understands that GuySuCo is recommending a retail price of $5,000 per bag. Over the Christmas holidays this newspaper observed groceries rationing sugar to customers.
Jaipaul said along with GuySuCo’s increase it is also now more costly for him to procure sugar. The man said he now pays $70,000 to $80,000 to transport a truck load of sugar from the city from an average cost of $35,000. Truck operators have increased their rates because of the lengthy time – sometimes two to three days – they often wait for supplies. Jaipaul said the truck that brings his supplies spent New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in a queue waiting for sugar.
He said he was forced to hire a security guard for the vehicle; describing the delivery system at DST as “a real snail operation.”
Jaipaul said too that sometimes DST did not have pre-packaged bags of sugar and as such patrons are forced to wait until they are filled before they are loaded. The proprietor also complained about the quality of sugar; saying some customers refuse to buy it because it is too dark.
GuySuCo CEO Nick Jackson told Stabroek News on Tuesday last that the company had at least “20,000 bags (of sugar) at DST,” but said it was engaging in the “rationalization of people [distributors],” that is, how much sugar is bought from the quotas distributors receive with the off-take, that is, when there is a shortfall from the quota. According to Jackson, the local supply of sugar has not changed and the demand is in keeping with supply, though he did say that there are times when demand peaks.
Jackson said at DST deliveries are done thrice weekly and when there is a big rush, it takes longer. Stabroek News understands that distributors who previously bought sugar from Enmore and Uitvlugt are now all purchasing from DST. This newspaper also understands that at times there are from 20 to 30 trucks waiting to be loaded.
As regards operations at DST, Jackson said the bags are usually pre-filled with sugar, but admitted that recently, owing to the “labour” from Enmore and Uitvlugt arriving late at DST there was some delay. The quality of the sugar was also said to be “pretty standard,” even though the CEO did say that at times the sugar may be lighter or darker but, “pretty much in range.”
Meanwhile, Jaipaul told Stabroek News that for the past eight to nine years he bought sugar directly from GuySuCo and is the distributor for Linden. He said businesses would normally buy from Riverview instead of hiring a truck to pick up supplies in the city. Every month the business is supplied with 230 45 kg bags of sugar weekly or 920 per month, a decrease from the 1,000 bags per month the outlet usually obtains. Jaipaul said this shortfall has occurred over the last six months.
To date GuySuCo has not given this distributor any official reason for the reduced quota, but Jaipaul said he understood that bad weather and human resource problems were among the reasons.
He said currently he has a demand for more than 300 bags per week. He explained that businesses bought from the city had experienced escalating costs and now buy from within the community. Jaipaul said too he had requested an increase in his sugar quota but he declined to comment on the response.
