The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) yesterday said that its first crop for 2020 which ended in June achieved a total of 37,015 tonnes of sugar.
This, it said in a statement is equivalent to 79.6 percent of the budgeted target of 46,476 tonnes of sugar; the shortfall being 9,461. It added that the crop was closed with 1,093 Hectares (762 Hectares at Albion/Port Mourant Estate and 331 Hectares at Blairmont Estate) of carry over canes to be harvested. This is equivalent to 66,000 tonnes of cane that will be carried over to the Second Crop of 2020.
It said that the actual sugar cane processed for the First Crop is 492,910, compared to the budgeted 539,460. The budgeted molasses was 19,624 while the actual output was 21,194; a surplus of 1,569. Tonnes Cane per tonnes sugar was budgeted at 11.61 and the actual was 12.99, GuySuCo said.
The average harvester attendance for the Crop was 54.3% across the industry. GuySuCo has struggled in recent years for higher attendance levels.
The sugar corporation said that harvesters’ attendance at the Albion/Port Mourant Estate was 54%, Blairmont Estate was 50% and Uitvlugt Estate was 64%.
“It should be noted that the First Crop attendance was impacted by the circumstances surrounding the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) which saw the employees being off of work for two weeks and this also contributed to the shortfall”, GuySuCo said.
It disclosed that the total number of strikes across the three estates for the First Crop was fifty – twenty-seven at Blairmont, seventeen at Albion/Port Mourant and six at Uitvlugt Estate. This resulted in 13,868 lost man-days – 7,555 at Albion, 4,959 at Blairmont and 1,354 at Uitvlugt. The financial impact of the strikes industry wide for employees, totaled $37.9 Million – $20.1 Million at Albion/Port Mourant, $13.6 Million at Blairmont and $4.2 Million at Uitvlugt. Total production forfeited industry wide as a result of the man-days loss, was 2,307 tonnes of sugar.
GuySuCo says it continues to strengthen its partnership with the Unions and sees them as valuable partners for the achievement of the target in the Second Crop 2020 and towards building a more resilient business.
“The management is also finding innovative and creative ways to keep the employees motivated and engaged despite the disruptive transition process which is now compounded by the challenges around the global COVID 19 pandemic”, GuySuCo added.
