Tag Archives: Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

GUYANA: Trouble in sugar estates as GAWU steps up protests

07/14/2022 – 10:00 pm

– Albion, Uitvlugt workers confront managements on pay, other issues

Jul 14, 2022 – Kaieteur News – Against the background of widespread dissatisfaction over the management of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) workers backed by their union have stepped up industrial action on various issues ranging from incentives to lack of respect.

On Tuesday workers at Uitvlugt took strike action against the corporation and on Wednesday it was the staff at Albion. According to a Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) statement on Wednesday morning several shop stewards at Albion Estate staged a picketing exercise outside of the estate calling on GuySuCo to treat workers with respect.  “For some time now, workers have been expressing concerns with the attitude of certain managers towards the workers. Despite such concerns being drawn to attention, some managers continue to advance an abrasive attitude,” the union said in a statement.  Continue reading →

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GUYANA: GUYSUCO to reduce sugar production; focus will be on shrimp, hemp- Jagdeo

04/13/2022 – 12:09 am

Demerara Waves: by Denis Chabrol – Monday, 11 April 2022, 15:58 5 Comments

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday announced that the State-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) would reduce sugar production in Skeldon, Corentyne but would facilitate private cane farming and assign some of the estate lands to shrimp and hemp production.

Addressing residents at Line Path, Skeldon, Corentyne, he said 400 of the 1,700 retrenched persons at Skeldon Estate have been rehired temporarily . “We have had a very, very hard time reopening here and generating jobs,” he said.

In outlining plans for the ailing industry, Mr. Jagdeo said sugar production would be scaled back. “We are going to return to some sugar production but on a smaller scale,”  he said.            Continue reading →

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GUYANA: Uncertainty over GuySuCo assets as reopening of estates fade

03/22/2022 – 12:03 am

…. as PPP/C’s dream of reopening shuttered estates fades

Mar 21, 2022- Kaieteur News – By Zena Henry

When the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) government decided to close four non- performing sugar estates in 2016 and 2017, the then administration decided to place the assets of Wales, East Demerara, Rose Hall and Skeldon sugar estates under the control of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).

Severed GuySuCo workers received their severance pay and was given an additional $250,000 payout by the PPP/C government. Some observers say that the $250,000 may have been a “conscionable” payoff by the government given the difficulty it faces to reopen the estates and rehire the workers as promised.            Continue reading →

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GUYANA: Sugar: “Enmore Packaging Plant moving to Berbice” – President Ali

03/08/2022 – 12:09 am

Mar 08, 2022 –Kaieteur News – By Shervin Belgrave

“We are not selling the Enmore Packaging Plant, we just moving it to Berbice” – President Ali

President Mohamed Irfaan Ali believes that if he was running a private corporation, such as the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), he would have been given incentives and bonuses by its board of directors for scrapping a project like the U$S12.5M Enmore Packaging Plant located on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), and spending more money to build a new one at Albion, Berbice, Region Six.
At least this is what the president told reporters at a press conference he held on Sunday.

His government on February 16, last had included the packaging plant in a 55-acre land deal it made with a 52 percent owned Guyanese joint-venture, Guysons K+B Industries Inc. According to reports, the company acquired the US$12.5M plant, owned by GuySuCo, on a long-term lease from the government and intends to transform the facility from its original use – to package sugar – into a manufacturing hub to support the oil sector.            Continue reading →

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GuySuCo’s money runs out – Chairman says accountants resign; credit being refused

06/10/2020 – 2:12 am

Jun 10, 2020  KaieteurNews

The smaller-sized state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) says it has no money and wants the Government to help.

According to the largest union for sugar workers, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) yesterday, it has learnt that GuySuCo is facing the prospect of closure having exhausted its finances and was desperately requiring the support of the Government.

In a letter of May 15, 2020 from GuySuCo’s Chairman, John Dow, appealed to President David Granger for his intervention “…to use your good offices to arrange for funding to prevent the impending closure of the Industry”.            Continue reading →

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Caribbean Community: Extensive tax evasion sinking struggling sugar industry

07/29/2019 – 12:04 am

– study recommends regional approach, tax on extra-regional imports to boost sector

A study commissioned by Caribbean sugar producers has recommended a region-wide approach to producing white sugar and urged the enforcement of a tax on most sweeteners imported into the region even as domestic producers highlight extensive tax evasion by importers.

The report by the United Kingdom-headquartered LMC International has underscored the challenges faced by producers in Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries who struggle to compete with the cheap sugar sourced extra-regionally.      Continue reading →

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Guyana: Green transformation versus narrow thinking – Editorial – Stabroek News

02/28/2019 – 7:25 am

Green transformation versus narrow thinking

On its website’s homepage, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) proudly displays what it terms a ‘new GuySuCo’. It says that it is “transforming our business” and “exploring our potential: rice cultivation and other crops to ensure the sustainability and viability of our business”. Arrows point from this statement to labelled photographs of cane sugar, fruit crops, aquaculture, dairy farming and seed paddy.

And sadly, that is as far as the transformation extends, although there is a notification lower on the page where GuySuCo explains why it is not pursuing ethanol production as an alternative to sugar production. The explanation, with references to studies, prices and comparisons with other countries producing ethanol makes perfect sense. What doesn’t is why GuySuCo’s research is limited to cane agriculture.        Continue reading →

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GuySuCo: massive procurement fraud – Billions wasted and stolen

05/22/2018 – 8:39 am

GuySuCo has over $3B in outdated Fiat tractor spares in stock

 May 22, 2018 – Kaieteur News

– growing evidence of massive procurement fraud over time

The suspicions were there all along. But the evidence was missing. Until now.
In recent years, the state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has been asking for and receiving billions of dollars annually in bailouts to pay workers and creditors.

The fortunes of the company have been steadily declining, with production plunging and poor maintenance, theft and the quality of agriculture at its lowest. Despite that, consecutive administrations facing watchful unions and a 16,000-plus strong workforce were unwilling to resist GuySuCo’s demands for cash.    Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Drainage-Irrigation, Government, Guyana, Politics | Also tagged , | Comments (2)

Guyana Politics: Jagdeo’s attack on GAWU

02/22/2018 – 3:36 pm

Guyana Politics: Jagdeo’s attack on GAWU

Feb 22, 2018 Kaieteur News –  Editorial 

The past few weeks have been a trying period for the sugar workers and their union, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU).The closure of four sugar estates by the government was criticized by the political opposition, unions, especially GAWU and sugar workers.

For years, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) was kept afloat by billions of dollars in subsidies from the government. Since taking office in May 2015, the Granger Administration pumped some $32 billion into GUYSUCO.   Continue reading →

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Skeldon’s massive losses…Workers dumped tonnes of cane-juice to make payday, forged accounts

09/13/2017 – 12:30 am

Skeldon’s massive losses…Workers dumped tonnes of cane-juice to make payday, forged accounts

Sept 12, 2017  – Kaieteur News –– South African engineer complains

A South African-based engineer hired several times to help fix the problems with the Chinese-built Skeldon sugar factory, had raised alarming questions about the operations there but there is little evidence anything was done by management.

Engineer, Vishal Somai, who was instrumental in recommending that Skeldon don’t grind for the first crop this year because of unsafe boiler conditions at that Berbice factory, described the dumping as criminal.
It helped contribute to the new factory’s under-performance in its seven years.   Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Agriculture, Business, Commentary, Education, Government, Guyana, Personalities, Politics, Technology | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)
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