GuySuCo’s blame casting will not help Guyana

Dear Editor,
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) continues to be a major topic in national conversation. I have contributed to this topic and will continue to do so using facts in my contributions. It is because my conviction is that sugar is important and remains relevant in Guyana’s economy. I support restructuring but not restructuring from an accounts balance-sheet perspective.
Balance-sheet perspective will lead to closure of each estate progressively over time. The talk of sale will always be in the arena as another option. The possible outcomes for that option can be no purchaser, a purchaser interested in sugar business or a purchaser not interested in sugar business but some other enterprise. Which outcome will GuySuCo choose?
A strategy to restructure sugar through closures and sale will prove to be a colossal failure in due time. It is simply because other agro-manufacturing businesses being touted such as juices, milk, beef, and fish remain hamstrung by cheap and reliable power, cost of other inputs, shipping costs, etc.
Despite having the best juice, milk, beef or fish in the world, the fact remains that other countries can produce these items at lower unit cost than our country.
For the sugar industry to emerge from its current state, there must be political will and know-how.
The chart below demonstrates this point as it shows production levels at different periods in time in Guyana’s recent history. Guyanese, especially the young population can make their individual assessments.

To aid that assessment, it is useful to note that average sugar production in the period 1985-1992 was 199,500 tonnes. For the period 1993-2015, it was 257,700 tonnes or a 29 per cent increase.
Average production from May 2015 to present day is about 200,000 tonnes, a 23 per cent decline or back to 1985-1992 era.
The year 2016 is not yet complete but from all indications, production for the year will probably be the lowest since 1990. The Chairman, Board and Interim Management Committee of GuySuCo should be spending their hours formulating strategies on how to improve production and efficiency rather than taking the easy route of making balance-sheet decisions, issuing political statements, casting blame and making excuses. This will not help our country!

Sincerely,
Sookram Persaud