Lautoka and Labasa Mills frustrate growers

[posted 8 Nov 2011,1515]

The Labasa and Lautoka mills have been plagued by serious mechanical problems with disappointing low crush rates for the last fortnight.

In Labasa, while delivery of cane remained strong after the Diwali holidays, the mill packed up with a crush rate which saw lorries having to wait anything between 15-24 hours to unload cane at the mill carrier.

Our sources have established that the problem lies with the processing of cane juice into sugar. The Qawa River is polluted again and the stench from it is unbearable.

For the last two weeks the mill has been producing plenty of molasses as can be ascertained with the high frequency of molasses trucks carting the thick brown liquid to Malau.

The Lautoka Mill was out of action for 94 hrs (4 days) last week. The problem is reported to be caused by the fractured Boiler Tubes and faulty cane shredder bearings. Earlier in the week, Lautoka Mill area cane was being diverted to the Rarawai Mill with a $40 per lorry load transport subsidy.

Both mills are crushing at a very slow rate causing serious disruptions to the harvesting programme.

For the week-ended Monday 7 November, the crush statistics were as follows:

   Mill                 Weekly crush       Season to date
                           (tonnes)               (tonnes)

 Lautoka                17,768                  492,374

 Rarawai                31,704                  514,001

 Labasa                 28,435                  459,329

 Penang                 11,581                  184,219

 Total                    89,488                1,649,923

S. Lal