Sugar crush off to a bad start

[Posted 3 June 2010,1615]

The Penang Mill broke down after running for only a short while on the first day of crush (1st June), wasting some 200 tonnes of crushed cane.

So much for FSC’s undertaking given to the growers that all the mills had been fixed and there will not be problems like the last season!

Penang was the first of the four mills to begin crushing from 1st June. The other three mills have yet to be assigned crushing dates.

FSC chairman Gautam Ramswarup was present in Penang to witness the start of the 2010 crush but his bluff was soon called when the mill came to a halt with a thud! It was claimed that the “rollers were not working”.

 “This may well be the sign of things to come for the rest of the season at all the mills,” said one of the observers present to witness the mill start rolling.

Penang Mill did not resume crushing until a day later (2nd June) but only for a few hours before puffing out again. In this stop/start exercise some 200 tonnes of cane were crushed but no sugar was made because the processing cycle was not fully completed, thus putting to waste the entire quantity of cane crushed.

“Who will compensate the farmer for this loss?” asked a Ra canegrower, expressing his disgust at FSC and the sugar ministry.

“As it is, we lost out on millions of dollars in the last crushing season because of negligence on FSC’s part. Key figures in the sugar industry remained dumb and sided with the miller,” he said.

Cane growers are warned that problems similar to those encountered during last year's crush may well occur again. They are likely to once again suffer huge losses because of FSC’s negligence in not maintaining its mills in good order.

FSC’s assurances about its mills being fixed are just plain hogwash as they continue to lie each year, before the crush, about the condition of the mills, just to lure cane farmers to begin harvesting.

The Sugar Industry Tribunal is equally guilty of condoning the situation as it has not taken any action in all these years to penalise FSC for  losses it has caused the farmers.

Indeed, the Tribunal’s actions and decisions in recent months run contrary to the Master Award and the Sugar Industry Act and are clearly biased against the growers.

The troubled start to the Penang Mill certainly does not augur well for the 2010 crushing season.