3 estates produce over 700 tonnes of sugar in 1 day

…highest daily performance for 2020, 2021

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has announced that combined, Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt, the only three estates left standing after the downsizing of the sugar industry under the former Government, produced over 700 metric tonnes of sugar in one day.

According to GuySuCo, the three estates produced 710 metric tonnes of sugar on Thursday. It was explained that this is the highest performance so far for 2021 and also for 2020.
When it comes to the Uitvlugt estate, some 1.0006 metric tonnes of sugar was produced for the week. This, according to GuySuCo, surpassed the week’s production target for the second week of complete grinding since the start of the first crop.
“During the initial days of the 1st crop, 2021, GuySuCo’s engineering corps along with all factory team members worked diligently to rectify major defects observed during the pre-crop factory trials also known as steam trials. This week, the Uitvlugt factory recorded a total of 125 grinding hours, a significant improvement compared to 116 the previous week. At Uitvlugt, the factory is expected to grind for 130-135 hours per week,” the company said on Saturday.
“So far, the Uitvlugt Estate has harvested a total of 416 hectares (42 per cent of which was provided by private farmers). Both the private and the estate uses semi-mechanical and manual harvesting techniques to harvest more than 28,000 metric tonnes of cane to produce 2068 metric tonnes sugar over a period of just over two weeks.”
The company went on to explain that engineers were able to fix a number of defects observed during trial runs at Uitvlugt. The improvements were made to the powerhouse, the crystallisers and a new boiler chimney.
“Notable improvements pertaining to the factory’s operations this crop include: increase power generation due to repairs in the powerhouse, a better mix of bagasse/fossil fuel usage contributing to reduction in cost, better quality of sugar cane harvested because of the strategy in the industry to go back to the basics in the agronomical practices and getting the nutrients for the plant on time,” the statement from the company said.
According to the statement, the repairs will also result in “less extraneous matter as a result of repairs to cane dumper area conducted prior to crop, better quality sugar crystals due to repairs completed at the crystallisers and a new boiler chimney which is allowing better combustion and better performance in the boilers and more consistent steam generation on the estate.”
Uitvlugt Manager Yudhisthira Mana said that $50 million went towards factory repairs while attributing the improvement in the estate’s productivity in 2021 “to the workers’ resilience, injection of the money towards factory repairs conducted prior to commencement of the 1st Crop 2021.”
He noted that importantly, the continued confidence of the private farmers in the ability of the estate’s management to produce sugar of the highest quality must also be lauded.
The former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government had closed the Wales Estate in 2016, and subsequently shut down the Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon Estates. The downsizing of the sugar industry resulted in only the Uitvlugt, Blairmont and Albion Estates currently operating.
After taking office last year, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C) Government announced in the 2020 Emergency Budget presented in September 2020, that some $5 billion would be injected into the sugar industry for the phased reopening of the closed estates.
GuySuCo was allocated a further $2 billion in Budget 2021 by the PPP/C Government for capital works to be undertaken at the various estates to help in the turnaround of the sugar industry.