With major projects due to complete this year, the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) is well ahead of time with their planning.

The statement was made by FSC chief executive officer Graham Clark while speaking to the sugar industry stakeholders in Drasa, Lautoka yesterday.

Mr Clark commended the efforts by members at the Lautoka Mill and those who helped schedule cane in line.

“Mill performance last year, I am pleased to say, was better as we always strive to be a bit better each year,” he said

“We are now about to reopen the mill for maintenance.

“The maintenance planning was all completed before the Christmas break, so we were ahead of time.

“We hope to start the maintenance work next week and get that done quickly as this year we have big projects to do.”

He told stakeholders there was hope to start the season early this year.

“For me, every year is getting a little better.

“Since Winston, we have grown every year and last year there was a seven per cent increase in the crop, and the good thing for me is the amount of stand-over cane was much less.

“We were 44 percent down, nearly half compared to last year which means everybody was doing better,” he added.

“We got some big work on the boiler, make it more efficient and our hope is to start the season early.”

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