The chairperson of the Fiji Sugar Corporation Vishnu Mohan yesterday outlined the industry’s five-year plan for 2018-2023.

Mr Mohan was addressing participants during the CPA Australia-Fiji Branch Congress on the topic ‘The Future of Fiji Sugar’.

He said they were expecting to crush four millions tonnes of sugarcane over the next five years.

Of this, he said they anticipated 480,000 tonnes of sugar to be produced with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $80 million.

“I feel very positive about the progress that we are hoping to achieve in the next five years,” he said at Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort and Spa, Yanuca Island.

He said they had a clear strategy in place and a good management framework in reforming the industry.

“We are focusing on governance. Everybody is now working hands-on.

“The management is on board and there is constant communication between the management and the stakeholders.

“The reason we got into the situation we are now is lack of leadership, industrial leadership, strategic direction and action plan and that is what we are focusing on now,” said Mr Mohan.

He also addressed the challenges that the industry was facing including:

declining sugar cane production

poor farm productivity

climate change,

poor factory efficiency

aging farmers

slow renewal of land leases

rising costs and loss of skills.

The current sugar scenario, he said, includes major losses to the sugar industry due to natural disaster, longer queues due to mill breakdowns and currently only 20 per cent of cane delivered by rail.

Mr Mohan also added that the strategy will include the sugarcane production recovery, newly acquired land, sugar mills capabilities and improving the transportation.

The two-day CPA Congress ended yesterday.

Edited by Ranoba Baoa

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