FSC can confirm that Rarawai Mill has encountered some issues this week but the Mill has still been crushing about 3500 tonnes per day.

Compared to a 14-day period last year, which was seen as a good year, Rarawai Mill crushed 55,056 tonnes and this year for the same period of the last 14 days, the Mill has crushed 52,874 tonnes of cane which is only four per cent less – not a major drop in performance.

We accept that once you have a poor day or two of crush in a week, there are compounding impacts for the rest of the week and FSC makes every effort to balance the quotas as well as tries to run through Sundays to allow for the required quantities to be crushed.

In the last 30 days, Rarawai Mill crushed 3922 tonnes per day compared to 3200 tonnes per day for the previous 30-day period, which also shows that performance has lifted by 22.5 per cent.

Lautoka Mill area can only supply 4300 tonnes of cane a day. We have to supplement cane supply from Rarawai and Penang this year as Lautoka Mill is crushing up to 5300 tonnes a day on average.

We are very pleased with the Lautoka Mill performance so it is highly unlikely that the lorry drivers have to wait for 12 hours because of line queues.

At the rate Lautoka Mill is crushing cane, 4300 tonnes can be crushed in just over two shifts and thereafter we will have to stop due to cane supply issues hence it makes sense to complement it with additional supply from the Rarawai Mill area.

Some facts to note is that for the 14-day period last year, Lautoka Mill crushed 50,700 tonnes compared to the last 14 days of this year of 64,055 tonnes.

This shows that the Lautoka Mill crushing rate for the last two weeks compared to the same period last year is up 26 per cent.

The issue with the mixed juice pumps in Rarawai is being rectified, but production is progressing at a steady rate and we expect the Mill performance to stabilise in the next 48 hours.

The Mill crushed 3700 tonnes in the last 24 hours which is well up from the year average of 3458 tonnes per day.

If the breakdown penalty applies, FSC will not hesitate to pay this, so the current situation is being analysed, and on top of this as a goodwill gesture FSC staff in Ba have been instructed to provide meals for the drivers during prolonged stoppages as well.