2020 SEASON CRUSHING UPDATE

The first three weeks of the 2020 sugar cane crushing season have been completed, with the Labasa Mill having started on June 10, 2020 and Rarawai Mill on June 23, 2020. The Lautoka Mill, which had scheduled to start crushing on 24th June 2020 encountered an issue with its main boiler fan during precrush trials and has thus postponed start up to rectify the problem.

A revised start date for Lautoka will be announced shortly.

In total, at the end of three weeks of crushing, 66,085 tonnes of cane had been crushed and sugar made and in process is estimated at 4,462 tonnes to date.

Labasa Mill

■The Labasa Mill has crushed 51,613 tonnes of cane in the three weeks to June 28 2020, and has generally run well, although cane supply has been disrupted by rain. Mechanical efficiency has been good with only 2.5 hours of factory stops recorded to date.

Commercial sugar production is well underway and 3,962 tonnes of sugar have been produced and delivered to the Malau bulk terminal.

Rarawai Mill

■Rarawai Mill has been crushing for five days and had crushed 14,472 tonnes of cane in this period, at an average crush of 2,894 tonnes per day, close to the crush budget for the first week. Lorry offloading has averaged 245 lorries per day.

Factory stoppages were experienced on 26th/27th June as the mill settled down, and repairs and adjustments have been necessary to the cane carrier and No.3 mill.

Commercial sugar production will start from week two and some 500 tonnes of sugar is currently in process.

Lautoka Mill

■Repairs and emergency refurbishing of the Lautoka boiler fan are progressing according to plan and all components have been procured and delivered. Engineering and assembly should be completed in the coming week after which pre-crush trials will be planned and resumed.

■The Sugar Industry Tribunal will determine the revised commencement date for the 2020 season at Lautoka and further confirmation will be published shortly. Source: Fiji Sugar Corporation