Business

Burnt cane impacting mill operations

September 25, 2022 4:30 pm

[File Photo]

The Fiji Sugar Corporation is concerned with the quality of cane received at the three mills, particularly the burnt cane ratios.

It says in the past few weeks, the burnt cane percentages are as high as 90% in the Viti Levu mills and averaging 70% in Labasa.

The FSC says combined with high extraneous matter in billet cane, these factors are putting undue constraints on the Process Team in terms of sugar extraction.

Article continues after advertisement

It stresses the cost of operations is also inflated due to high chemical usage for processing of burnt cane.

Meanwhile, FSC has crushed over one million tonnes of cane producing 109, 554 tonnes of sugar as of Monday.

The FSC says sugar recovery is better when compared to the last four years, mainly due to improved milling operations.

It says the season to-date TCTS stands at 10.1 units as compared to 10.5 in 2021 and 11.2 in 2020 seasons.

The FSC also highlights that mechanical stops have been significantly low this year, however the mills are forced to reduce rate of operations in view of thinning cane supply on a regular basis.