The Labasa FSC Mill has so far crushed 350,000 tonnes of cane out of the 650,000 tonnes target since June.

The Labasa Mill is so far the best-performing mill in Fiji in the 2024 season.

According to Sugar Minister Charan Jeath, Labasa has already shipped one shipment each of sugar and molasses, and another two shipments is expected later in the year.

He says the total expected crushing of cane in this season would be around 1.6 million, that’s the initial projection, which is about 8% in the Labasa mill, nine percent, and 10 percent in the other mills.

He says Fiji should be producing sugar around 150,000 tons, which will give a gross ending of about $150 million dollars to the Fiji economy on the sale proceeds.

“But once the mill closes, then we’ll get that figure. But look, a figure of crushing 1.6 million tons of cane, we’re looking around with our current TCTS, which is about 8% in Labasa mill, 9%, and 10% in the other mills. We should be producing sugar around 150,000 tons, which will give a gross ending of about $150 million dollars to the Fiji economy on the sale proceeds.”

He says for Lautoka and Ba mills have been dealing with issues of no to low cane supply to the mill forcing the mill to close and at times when the boiler is down, which would require farmers and truck drivers to wait much longer than expected.