Fiji Sugar Corporation is withholding announcement of the cane forecast price for the 2015 season because it has been unable to secure buyers for our sugar from this year’s crop.
In the past, Tate & Lyle (UK) bought all of it at an EU guaranteed price but this changed from last year when they bought only 150,000 tonnes of a total of 220,000 tonnes of sugar produced.
Industry officials remain tight lipped about when the forecast price will be announced. Farmers have expressed anger at the delay as they are unable to make firm arrangements for the harvest of their crop without knowing how much they can expect to earn from it.
Cane price dropped from $88 per tonne in 2013 to $73 per tonne in 2014 and is likely to go down further now that more of our sugar is to be sold in the open market where prices remain depressed.
In terms of today’s world market price of US37c (FJ70c) kg which is likely to fall further in 2016/2017, a farmer can expect no more than $45 per tonne.
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