THE FIJI Sugar Corporation (FSC) has reported its lowest sugar production in 15 years, with the 2024 season yielding just 126,522 tonnes, according to the company’s 2025 annual report.
The report is set to be presented at FSC’s annual general meeting in Lautoka today.
This represents a significant drop from previous years, with FSC producing 140,000 tonnes in 2023, 156,000 tonnes in 2022, and 133,000 tonnes in 2021.
FSC chairman Nitya Reddy highlighted the challenges in the report.
“Total cane production of 1.332 million tonnes for the season resulted in one of the lowest sugar outputs in recent history – 126,522 tonnes and a significantly reduced industry revenue of $175million,” he said.
“FSC’s share of this revenue declined to $50.9million, a reduction of nearly 29 per cent compared to the previous year.”
Despite the decline, Mr Reddy expressed cautious optimism for the future.
“Looking ahead, FSC enters 2025 with optimism for a cane crop of 1.5-1.6 million tonnes from 31,723 hectares, representing a 13 per cent increase from the previous year.
“While modest, this improvement is encouraging given the reduced cultivable area and ageing crop profile. There are emerging signs of production turnaround with targets of 2.0 million tonnes by 2028 and 2.25 million tonnes by 2030, subject to adequate policy and financial support for urgent restructuring, reforms, and investment.”
The annual report also revealed that the Board is exploring the establishment of a new mill, with assessments underway on economic feasibility, capacity, funding options, location, and alignment with diversification strategies into ethanol, refined sugar, and other value-added products.
