Enmore sugar packaging plant undergoes testing

Apr 05, 2011 News

– operational by next month

Tests are being carried out at the US$12M sugar packaging facility at Enmore with full operations likely next month.
This is according to Paul Bhim, Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
The facility will have a capacity to package 15 tonnes of sugar every hour but full operation is not likely until the second crop later this year since the current one is drawing to a close.

The Enmore packaging under construction.

According to Bhim, the equipment at the packaging plant and at the factory have already been installed linking both.
A conveyor belt will be taking sugar from the factory to the packaging plant building, the CEO said.
Being built by Surendra Engineering, an Indian construction company, the components which were built mainly in Brazil and Europe, will be packaging the raw sugar for resale mainly in Guyana and the Caribbean.
With a 25,000 bag demand in Guyana, GuySuCo is aiming to replace these with the smaller, more attractive packages.
The Corporation, in building the packaging plant, was forced to upgrade the Enmore Factory to allow the raw sugar to be taken mechanically via a conveyor belt to the former.
According to Bhim, while initially the target will be Guyana and the region, there has been intense interest from North America, Lebanon, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
GuySuCo has been marketing Demerara Gold in limited quantity.
Packaged sugar commands a far better price than the bagged ones on the market.
GuySuCo has been hoping to ramp up production this year after a dismal 18-year low in 2010.
This year, like last year, the question is not about whether there is enough canes in the ground…a burning problem in the past.
It is about whether the weather, a worrying factor, will hold.
The crop is only about 40 per cent complete after weeks of rain. This was despite an early start of the crop in January, instead of the traditional February commencement.
For the first crop, GuySuCo has targeted almost 140,000 tonnes.
Albion and Skeldon were the most affected estates by the wet weather with the management unable to utilise the mechanical harvesters.