Penang to Reopen in 2027: Singh
Fiji’s fourth sugarcane crushing mill is expected to resume the year after the next general election.
Penang Mill in Rakiraki will reopen in 2027, Minister for Sugar Charan Jeath Singh said, while giving farmers a two-year headstart to prepare farms.
However, construction on the fomer mill would commence in 2026, the same year the country goes to the polls for the next general elections.
The mill was shut down in 2016 after Tropical Cyclone Winston, as workers were re-deployed to Rarawai, and Lautoka.
“The construction phase will be no later than the early part of next year,” Mr Singh said.
Setting up a mill was no easy feat, he said.
“If everything is on track, we’ll be able to get the mill set up in its entirety by the end of 2026,” he said. “For 2027 we should be able to start the operation of the mill.
“We will give farmers two years from next year to acquire land and plant cane so that we can have enough cane to crush.”
In earlier reports, he said Labasa mill was the best performer, after an analysis was carried out be overseas experts.
The ministry would spend money on the Lautoka and Ba mills, Mr Singh said.
Engineers identified issues such aging infrastructure and lack of professional implementation in operations, as challenges at the mills, he said.
“We know what the problems are, but I don’t have the specifics,” he said, adding that he would be better versed next week after a read of the engineers report.
Lautoka Mill will commence crushing on June 5, while the Rarawai Mill will begin on June 19. The Labasa Mill is expected to start crushing on June 13.
“We are anticipating that we’ll have a good crushing in this coming season whereby our estimate of cane is about 1.8 million tonnes. Last year it was 1.6 million.
“If everything goes good, we should be able to increase our cane production by 200,000 tonnes.” Sugar Cane Growers fund chief executive officer Raj Sharma said there was a 20 per cent increase in farmers borrowing rate with most preparing for the crushing season. “We are prepared to help the farmers in preparation for farming. “Generally, we see that farmers wait for the cane payment so we expect there will be another cane payment within this month, but we have seen that there is an increase in borrowing,” Mr Sharma said. “Comparing it month to month, in March we had $800,000, and in April we got $1 million, so there was a 20 per cent increase in borrowing from the farmers since they are preparing for harvesting needs.”