The recent visit by top executives of the Tate and Lyle Sugar Company earlier this month was “nothing out of the ordinary” according to Ross Hall, the Associate Director of Ketchum London, the firm charged with the sugar company’s public relations.
In relation to the visit which was highly publicised by the Government Information Agency, Hall stressed that Tate and Lyle experts were routinely sent to every supplier throughout the year.
He said that technical teams were dispersed to visit suppliers and to assess the situation on the ground regularly to ensure that all manufacturing was done to an international standard. Hall told Stabroek News that it was not unusual for members of the government including the president to meet with executives on visits owing to the importance of the sugar industry in Guyana.
Hall explained that from Tate and Lyle’s perspective it would be odd if high ranking officials within the Guyana Sugar Corporation and government did not meet with representatives as this had been the protocol for years.
Questions had been raised after GINA reported that Regional Technical Director Colin Turner, Vice President, Trading, Duncan Tate, Social Responsibility Specialist Rafael Vaya, and Senior Vice President Simon Gibbons met with President Donald Ramotar on September 11 to discuss the long-term relationship between Guyana and the sugar giant.
Stabroek News was told that the sugar company will always have a special interest in the sector and will continue to provide assistance. Last year amid the deep-seated problems of the flagship Skeldon factory, an experienced manager from UK sugar refiner Tate and Lyle was quietly brought in to run it in February of this year.
There was no announcement by the industry or the government of the arrival of Richard Orr to take charge of the factory and estate.
However, senior officials at the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) have stated that it was never meant to be a secret that a Tate and Lyle official was currently holding the position of Estate Manager at Skeldon.
Stabroek News was told that Orr, who had previously told this newspaper that contractually he is unable to speak with the press, was brought on in February of this year after the former estate manager Karamchand Bramdeo left to pursue a master’s programme.
Orr’s arrival also coincided with the presence of the South African company Bosch, which was contracted by GuySuCo to do expensive rectification work on the problem-plagued factory which had been built by CNTIC.
Hall was asked by the Stabroek News as to whether the visit had anything to do with the struggling sugar figures. He responded that those answers would need to be provided locally through GuySuCo’s management. He noted that the 192,000 tonne contract that GuySuCo is obligated to fulfil annually was not in jeopardy and that representatives were not brought in to discuss ending any long-standing contracts.
This newspaper also asked if Tate and Lyle was concerned about the recent sugar trends; in 2012 GuySuCo produced 218,000 tonnes, the lowest figure in over two decades while last year the production was even more dismal at 186,000 tonnes.
GuySuCo has had to revise its production targets for 2013 and again for 2014 although the 2013-2017 Strategic Plan was only finalized in July of last year. Although 2013 production didn’t crack 200,000 tonnes GuySuCo was still able to fulfil its contract quota to Tate and Lyle as the contract runs from June to July as opposed to January to December.
Skeldon
The Guyana Sugar Corporation has invested over US$200 million in the Skeldon Modernization Project and over half of that US$110 million was spent on the new Skeldon factory, however the factory is yet to establish itself after five years in operation.
Skeldon’s second crop production target is set at just over 27,000 tonnes and to date production rests at under 7,000 tonnes. With the recent strikes the estate was forced to shut down for most of last week only grinding roughly 190 tonnes of sugar.
The global price of raw sugar will also continue to affect the industry as a whole, with a greater impact being felt at Skeldon. Last year GuySuCo was making US$720 per tonne of sugar, while the first crop of 2014 saw a dramatic drop to US$460-490 and has only climbed to US$505 within the last few weeks.
GuySuCo could make upward of $30 billion in 2014, but with a debt of $58 billion the company will continue to go deeper into the red without an intervention.
