Sugar factories hope to reap sweet returns

WESTERN BUREAU:Sugar factories in western Jamaica are gearing up for the start of the 2011-2012 crop season, which officially begins on December 5.

Once the most important sugar-producing region in the Western Hemisphere, with almost 200 plantations combined, owners of the three existing factories are moving to revitalise the sector.

Frome Sugar Factory - which is now owned by Pan Caribbean Sugar Company (PCSC), a subsidiary of Chinese government-owned firm Complant - will be the first to start production, and CEO Francis He is confident of a good year.

"We are ready at Frome and will start on time. We have spent millions of dollars on equipment, and we expect the results," He told Western Focus, while refusing to give a projection.

The Westmoreland facility closed the 2010-2011 season a shade over the 41,000 tonnes produced the previous year to make some 41,687 tonnes of sugar, falling short of the 55,000 tonnes it had targeted.

Appleton Estate in St Elizabeth has maintained a high standard over the years, ending last season with 31,033 tonnes - one ton more than it had projected at the start of the season in January.

According to a well-placed source at the facility located in Siloah, the maintenance work during the break is expected to result in an even greater output this season.

"Appleton Estate has always been well-maintained, and this season will be no different in terms of its production level. This it has shown even when others were failing in the past," the source said.

Long pond to start january

However, all eyes will be affixed to the Hussey family-owned Everglades Farms, operators of the Long Pond Estate in Trelawny, which will start production in late January.

Everglade Farms sat out the last season to undertake a multimillion-dollar rehabilitation and crop-expansion exercise in preparation for the upcoming season after a disastrous first year in 2009-2010.

Western Focus also managed to interview Ambassador Derrick Heaven, chairman of the sugar industry authority, at the international sugar organisation conference in London on Thursday.

"The impression I get is that more effort has gone into preparation. All the factories in the western region are well prepared, and we should see a much-improved performance for this season."

Some 134,507 tonnes of the sweetener were churned out across the five operating factories in Jamaica last year. The other sugar factories in the country include Duckenfield Sugar Factory in St Thomas; Monymusk, Clarendon; and Worthy Park Estate in St Catherine.