Nand Persaud & Company aiming at tougher sugar challenge

to under the current contract. The Nand Persaud deal with Cuba follows the dissolution of the PetroCaribe barter agreement with Venezuela which had resulted in the loss of a key rice market and had galvanized the industry into a worldwide search for alternative buyers and that, industry watchers say, is sufficient to make it important.

The idea of a rice mill, Rajendra says, was suggested by the Cuban Government. Nand Persaud’s response reposes in its perspective on the future of the Cuban economy. “Cuba’s economy is growing and there has been a surge of tourism since the US government lifted some of the travel restrictions. They have a lot of privately-owned and operated businesses… hotels, restaurants and supermarkets. There is opportunity to sell even outside the 500, 000 tonnes (of rice) that the government imports yearly.”

More recently, beyond the company’s initiative to break new ground for the local rice industry, it has also turned its attention to the somewhat more formidable challenge offered by a local sugar industry that is now virtually on its knees. The company has written to government expressing an interesting in acquiring the assets of the multi-million dollar Chinese-built Skeldon Sugar Factory though just a few days ago NICIL announced that expressions of interest in acquiring GuySuCo’s assets will now have to be re-submitted.

On Saturday, Stabroek Business found Rajendra less than talkative about Nand Persaud’s plans for the sugar industry…assuming that is, that it succeeds in acquiring the assets of the Skeldon Estate. He was, however, prepared to disclose that such plans could conceivably include consolidating existing links with regional markets as well as possibly producing value-added products for the wider international market.

A Nand Persaud and Company plan for sugar will revolve around seeking to reinvent the conventional approach to marketing which Rajendra says “requires aggressive branding and marketing strategies.”

The company is also operating on the assumption that if and when it acquires the Skeldon Factory some amount of repairs and maintenance will be necessary. It is in communication with two consultants from Brazil and India who are equipped to make recommendations regarding what is needed in terms of rehabilitation.

While the company has no plans to go into cane farming, Rajendra says that they could pursue the option of securing canes from private farmers as well as making some of the land linked to the factory available for the cultivation of canes to feed the factory. An option in sugar is likely to give rise to the need for limited mechanization in the harvesting of cane given what the company says is a worsening labour shortage.