Still recovering from the devastating floods of 2021, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has set a target of 66,000 tonnes of sugar for the new production year. This figure is a sharp drop from the 2021 target of 97,420 tonnes and the revised figure of 70,000 tonnes.
GuySuCo in 2021 only managed to produce 57,995 tonnes of sugar.
In the first crop cycle of 2022, the sugar producer has set a target of 21,000 metric tonnes while in the second crop the corporation is looking to produce 45,000 tonnes of sugar. The grinding estates last year produced a combined output of 29,650 and 28,345 tonnes of sugar in the first and second crop, respectively.
A source in the industry told Stabroek News that Albion will be tasked with producing over 10,000 tonnes, which accounts for just over 50 per cent while the two other grinding estates at Uitvlugt and Blairmont will produce the remainder. The same methodology for targets will be applied to the second crop.
With sugar cane being a perennial crop, the source explained that they expect to harvest enough cane to meet their target in the second crop of 2022.
GuySuCo is expected to commence sugar production for the first crop season by the end of February.
Last year, Stabroek News was told that the three estates had to reduce their production targets due to the decline in yields and that weather conditions have contributed tremendously to the drop in sugar production for the current and last crop.
The disastrous output along with continuing subventions to the industry from the state and an absence of viable options for the still-shuttered Skeldon factory and estate will pile pressure on the government for radical decisions to be made this year.
Production for the first crop at the three estates last year, according to GuySuCo, was Albion 14,792 tonnes, Blairmont 8,668 tonnes, and Uitvlugt 6,190 tonnes.
GuySuCo also informed that the floods which overwhelmed the estates were largely responsible for the sugar production decline in 2021 when measured against production per estate in 2020. In 2020, Albion estate produced, for the first crop, 16,802 tonnes but produced 14,792 tonnes, in 2021. Blairmont in 2020 produced 11,867 tonnes for its first crop but only 8,668 tonnes for 2021. Uitvlugt’s 2020 first crop production number was 8,344 tonnes, but managed only 6,190 tonnes in 2021. GuySuCo’s second crop data per estate were: Albion – 24,908 tonnes in 2020 and 9,981 in 2021, Blairmont – 15,548 tonnes in 2020 and 11,113 tonnes in 2021, and Uitvlugt – 10,406 tonnes in 2020 against 7,207 tonnes in 2021.
Targeted production across all estates was also revised downwards with the first crop reduced to 27,651 from 42,608 tonnes, and the second crop from 54,812 to 28,302. When compared to 2020 production across the estates, first crop production in 2021 was 27,651 compared to 37,013 tonnes in 2020, and the second crop production was 28,301 tonnes compared to 50,862 tonnes in 2020. The mid-year flooding resulted in more than 30 per cent of the sugarcane being destroyed. The floods were also responsible for GuySuCo not being able to produce the highest quality of sugar.
“What we currently have now is light sugarcane. It is not the best of quality and that is impacting production. The canes have no weight,” a source familiar with the crisis at the three grinding estates explained. Sugarcane that was waterlogged for more than 65 days has resulted in poor sucrose content.
