[File Photo]

The Fiji Sugar Corporation needs to produce approximately 235,000 tonnes of sugar to achieve break-even revenue.

Chief Executive Bhan Pratap Singh highlighted this during a joint submission to the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs.

Singh says cane production is below the desired level of 2.5 million tonnes and the trend is declining.

“If the price drops, which has been the trend in the past, then we need to produce a lot more sugar just to break even. The production figures for the past 10 years, as the trend shows, from 2014, where the cane was just around 1.8 million tons cane, to current last year of 1.566 million tons, you can see that the trend is on the decline. And proportionately the sugar and molasses production both have declined.”

Singh says the ongoing dry weather is severely impacting both the existing cane and the planting season.

“So the climate is really affecting the progress of the industry and we look forward to having a successful season, which is starting off in the next week at Lautoka Mill and the following weeks in the two other mills.”

Despite these challenges, he says the FSC is preparing for the upcoming crushing season, which is set to begin at the Lautoka Mill next week, followed by the other two mills in the subsequent weeks.