Penang mill ends crushing

CRUSHING at Penang Mill in Rakiraki was terminated yesterday morning and Fiji Sugar Corporation executive chairman Abdul Khan said despite inclement weather, the factory had done well."We certainly have exceeded expectations at Penang and our team there must be congratulated for a very fine effort," he said.

"We processed 178,000 tonnes of sugar cane and produced 19,200 tonnes of sugar resulting in a tonnes cane to tonnes sugar (TCTS) of between 9.2 and 9.3 which is a remarkable step up from last season where the TCTS for all four mills in the country was averaging 12.6 tonnes of cane to produce one ton of sugar."Mr Khan said while he was pleased with the overall performance of the mill, the challenge for FSC was to further improve mill performance and continue to build the confidence of sugarcane growers in the area.

In an earlier interview with this newspaper, Mr Khan said the FSC was committed to improving mill performance and efficiency."The better we perform as an organisation and the more efficient our mills are, the more money we can derive from our sugar and this will benefit all the stakeholders, from cane growers to cutters to lorry drivers, the FSC and the country."