By RACHNA LAL and LITIA MATHEWSELL
The Fiji Sugar Corporation has drawn US$6.295 million (FJ$11.97 million) from the existing EXIM Bank of India facilities to address some of the issues with the mill upgrade programme.
Fiji Sugar Corporation executive chairman, Abdul Khan, confirmed this.
He said: “The money is being used to put right some issues associated with the initial mill upgrade programme.”
As for the repayment of the loan, Mr Khan said the full loan is expected to be paid back in 10 years after the moratorium period has expired.
He said the interest rate on the original loan is just under two per cent per annum.
Lautoka Mill resumes crushing
Meanwhile, crushing of cane has resumed at the Lautoka Mill following a brief shutdown.
The mill was shut for almost a week for repair works and resumed over the weekend.
Mr Khan confirmed that after bypassing one of the juice extraction mills, they had started processing sugar cane on Sunday.
Progress despite challenges
Mr Khan noted that they are making good progress, especially with gains in cane processing efficiency.
He however stressed the corporation was also facing challenges with the low supply of cane, which is needed to keep the mills operations.
Mr Khan said that although this is a problem faced at all their four mills around the country, it is quite prominent at the mills in Lautoka and Penang, in Rakiraki.
He said the consistent supply of sugarcane was a challenge that affected crushing.
“We will need to critically review our harvesting and delivery practices and implement changes to improve this as we progress through this season and in the future,” Mr Khan said.
To date 873,000 tonnes of sugarcane has been processed and 95,000 tonnes of sugar made.