THE National Union of Workers claims sugarcane farmers will lose out on $11.53 million in sugar earnings because of breakdowns and inefficiencies at the Fiji Sugar Corporation’s mills last season.
In a press statement issued yesterday, NUW general secretary Felix Anthony claimed that in the last season about 1.7 million tonnes of cane was crushed at a tonnes cane to tonne sugar (TCTS) ratio of 10.59 compared with a TCTS of 9.04 in the 2017 season.
Mr Anthony claimed that the difference in TCTS between 2017 and last season meant that it took an additional 1.55 tonnes of cane to produce one tonne of sugar last year.
“Therefore, FSC produced 160,234 tonnes of sugar at 10.59 TCTS when it could have produced 187,708 tonnes of sugar had it maintained 2017 production figures,” he said.
“This equates to a loss of about $16.48 million at $600 per tonne of sugar and farmers stand to lose the lion’s share of $11.53 million (70 per cent) and FSC $4.9 million.
“Look at it in another way, to produce 27,474 tonnes of sugar in 2017 at a TCTS of 9.04 it would have had to crush an additional 248,365 tonnes of cane.
“The cost of sugarcane, including subsidies from Government, was about $120 per tonne, as widely publicised by FSC and Government,” he added.
“This means FSC wasted $29.804 million in buying sugarcane that did not produce any sugar — and this is all because of mill breakdowns and milling inefficiencies.”
In response to the NUW statement yesterday, the FSC said it would not respond to third party queries.
“However, if they have any issues, they are welcome to discuss these issues directly with the FSC,” the miller said in response to queries from this newspaper.
In response to questions of a similar nature posed by this newspaper last week, the FSC said: “The lower TCTS will be reflected in the 2018/19 financial year — not 2017/18. Cane is paid per tonne, based on the pricing formula contained in the Sugar Industry Master Award, not on a ‘claimed cost’.”
