Sugar Minister Charan Jeath Singh says Fiji’s sugar mills are currently running at a loss due to low cane supply and underperformance.
“Right now, we’re losing money because the mills are running below capacity,” he said.
Mr Singh said even with 1.5 million tonnes of cane being crushed, the country produces only about 150,000 tonnes of sugar.
He said the sugar industry only generates approximately $150million in foreign exchange.
“Some people call the sugar industry ‘the elephant in the room’ but let me remind you this industry supported Fiji during coronavirus when other sectors were closed.”
He said the current national average yield was only 47 tonnes per hectare, which was too low.
“One hectare is 2.5 acres. Ideally, a farmer should produce 30 tonnes per acre, or 75 tonnes per hectare.”
He said in the past, mills used to crush 4.2 million tonnes of cane.
