Mill rakes in $1.1m revenue
THE FSC mill in Labasa raked in $1.1 million in revenue through the export of power to the EFL grid during this crushing season.
The mill ended its crushing season yesterday having crushed 360,856 tonnes of cane and produced 33,976 tonnes of sugar.
The mill had set an initial target of 363,000 tonnes of cane to crush but the impacts of two cyclones experienced on Vanua Levu in December last year and January this year resulted in a shortage of 2144 tonnes.
In officiating at the closing event, Commissioner Northern Uraia Rainima applauded the efforts of FSC workers for producing great results despite the impacts of the two cyclones.
“We thank the Almighty of this wisdom and courage to allow us to move forward through the difficult times we faced with the cyclones and the pandemic,” he said.
“We were struck by two cyclones but we didn’t go down with it but instead we rose above our situation and achieved great results. It is our determination and courage that took us through and we have become stronger and set new targets as we will take this industry to a new level that we have been dreaming of for a very long time.”
Labasa mill acting manager Viliame Volai told guests that the crushing season also produced 14,429 tonnes of molasses which was sold to markets in the Caribbean and Trinidad. He said the mill exported 19,000 metric tonnes of sugar to the UK market and the mill’s TC:TS (tonnes per cane to tonnes per sugar) stood at 10:6.
“We faced challenges in the beginning of the season as we couldn’t secure operators of harvesting machines from India and mill parts being sent from overseas were also delayed. Despite all these challenges team Labasa was able to save more than enough fuel this season our team bond has been strong and commendable.”