A total of 427,917 tonnes of cane has been crushed by all three mills until Friday morning, leaving around 80 per cent of cane still left standing in the fields.

This was confirmed by the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) chief executive officer, Graham Clark, yesterday.

Mr Clark said: “Total of 42,493 tonnes of sugar has been produced and average TCTS (tonne of cane per tonne of sugar) to date is 10.08.

“Cane crushed to date – Lautoka Sugar Mill 113,431 tonnes, Rarawai Sugar Mill 135,706 tonnes and Labasa Sugar Mill 178,780 tonnes.

“Sugar produced- Lautoka Sugar Mill 11,009 tonnes, Rarawai Sugar Mill 13,275 tonnes and Labasa Sugar Mill 18,155 tonnes,” he said.

Mr Clark said the cane supplies increasing steadily and there are more than 80 gangs now harvesting.

“We are still conducting an investigation into the matter where a tyre that was discovered in the diffuser scraper.”

Earlier last month, FSC has discovered that a tyre had ended up in a diffuser scraper drum.

The mill was closed for a day and after repairs, the mill was on operational again.

“Only Labasa where the shredder shaft broke requiring it to be bypassed,” he said.

Mr Clark said the cane supply from Rakiraki has increased steadily as Fiji Corrections Service are providing harvesting services to farmers.

“Trucks from identified sectors are being diverted from Rarawai Sugar Mill to Lautoka Sugar Mill to ease the conjunctions.

“About 20 per cent of available cane has been crushed to date,” he said.