The grinding operations at the Guyana Sugar Corporation ended on December 24, 2014 with the Corporation surpassing its 2014 sugar production target of 216,000 tonnes, a statement from GuySuCo said yesterday.
Industry analysts have noted that 216,000 tonnes is a very modest target. The previous year, the corporation had disastrous production of 186,807 tonnes of sugar, the lowest in 22 years.
While 216,000 tonnes was the target referred to yesterday, the corporation had mentioned a 219,000 tonnes target at an Economic Services Committee meeting of Parliament.
According to the statement, in an invited comment, Chief Executive Officer of GuySuCo Raj Singh expressed his thanks to workers at all levels of the Corporation for their efforts in making the target. He noted that it was the first year since 2005 that the Corporation was able to meet its target. However, he stated that there is still much to be done to ensure that the Corporation returns to profitability. He said that the performance of the industry was encouraging and that most of the key indicators were achieved.
The statement added that in the coming year more focus and energy will be placed on upping production, reducing the cost of output, enhancing its mechanization programme, expanding the market base and diversifying its lines of business.
The Corporation will now focus on getting the factories ready for production by mid February 2015.
In the coming year, the statement said that the Corporation will analyze the effectiveness of the new initiatives that were introduced in 2014 including the use of briquettes for steam generation, bio fertilizers and legume fallowing.
