And in other news from the sugar industry, the millers, BSI/ASR, published a warning to farmers not to burn and prepare cane for delivery from June 14 to June 16. That's because the bad weather in the north is disrupting the delivery of cane, and a lot of mud is entering the factory.
It's the second time in 2 weeks that the mill has had to go on a temporary pause, and today, the press asked the Agriculture Minister about that. He said that from the Ministry's estimate, 30% of the cane that can be harvested in this season are still in the fields:
Hon. Jose Mai - Minister of Agriculture, Food Security & Enterprise
"I think the last report I saw, we were still like 30% of the sugar cane left in the fields yet. When the weather like this becomes difficult, there is an increase in the mud going to mills and then processing becomes a problem. The quality becomes a problem. So the mill, I think based on the weather, decided to pause so that the bad weather passes, so that we - and -I presume - some repairing or so on so that we can continue if the weather holds up. But it does and it will affect the amount of cane that will be milled. Every day that passage, you know, the weather, we are running into the rainy season. So, from what I'm seeing, I'm not sure if we'll be able to mill all the sugar cane out there this year. I'm hoping that they will. I'm hoping that the weather will hold up. Every stalk of cane left what there is a loss to the farmers, and with the growing costs of production, it is a loss. It is a loss. So we are hoping that the weather improves. We're hoping that the mill could hold up and absorb all the sugar cane out there, especially in these difficult economic times. It is our hope that every farmer will be able to deliver their sugar cane."
By BSI/ASR's estimate, a little less than 1 million tonnes of cane have already been milled.
