Sugar Industry Tribunal Registrar Timothy Brown says the tribunal has had no issues with delays in the start of each crushing season.
While presenting the tribunal’s 2021 Annual Report before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, Mr Brown said the processes involved in issuing a start date was clearly outlined in the Master Award.
He says the commencement of a crushing season begins with an application from the Fiji Sugar Corporation to the tribunal, which takes on feedback from stakeholders including the Sugar Cane Growers Council.
“The registrar will meet the parties and once we have an agreement between the parties, the registrar will urge the tribunal to issue an order,” he said.
“That is the process.
“We have not had an issue about the lateness of the start but basically what is taken into account is the mill readiness and the volume of matured cane.”
He said having an idea of the volume of matured cane coupled with the number of cane growers ready to harvest was also important.
“The gangs and growers who are ready to harvest must be known and this is measured by the number of Memorandum of Gang Agreements (MOGA) that are delivered to the sector office.
“Some gangs wait until two weeks after the crush begins then they fill their MOGA – so what we want to know is do we have enough gangs to start the mill so that we have enough cane delivered to the mill so that the miller can continue with the crush.”
