352K tonnes of cane crushed at Labasa Mill so far

Fiji Sugar Corporation's sugar mill in Labasa yielding better results compared to other two mills in Viti Levu, in terms of operation concerns, including mill downtime.

This was confirmed by the Minister for Sugar Industry Charan Jeath Singh during his recent visit to Labasa.

He said Labasa Mill has crushed 352,000 tonnes of cane for this season so far.

"It is expected to crush around 600,000 to 650,000 tonnes of cane," Mr Singh said.

"So far from Labasa Mill, there has been two shipment of sugar and one shipment of molasses."

He said another shipment of sugar and another of molasses were expected to take place before the end of this year.

Moreover, he said the total expected crushing of cane for this season from the three mills was around $1.6 million.

"The current tonnes of cane to tonnes of sugar (TCTS) for Labasa Mill is eight per cent and about nine to 10 per cent for Lautoka and Ba Mills," he said.

"Keeping this TCTS in mind, we should be producing sugar around 150,000 tonnes, which will give gross earnings of about $150 million to Fiji as sales proceeds."

He said the mills at Ba and Lautoka had some problems such as when the boiler was not operating and drivers had to wait much longer than expected.

"Sometimes we have to close the mill when there is no or less cane, which is what people do not understand. We need to have enough cane supply at the mill, then it would be effective to operate, otherwise it will become a costly affair," he said.

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