Upgrading Divested Sugar Factories Will Not Disrupt Production

KINGSTON — Chairman, Board of Directors of Pan Caribbean Sugar Company, Lyn Yuting, said upgrading works at three divested Government sugar factories, will take three to four years, without disrupting production.

He was speaking on August 15, at a contract signing ceremony at Jamaica House,  at which COMPLANT formally acquired Bernard Lodge, St. Catherine; Frome, Westmoreland; Monymusk, Clarendon and associated lands for US$9 million (J$774 million).

Pan Caribbean Sugar Company is the entity registered in Jamaica by COMPLANT Group of Companies in China, to operate the three sugar factories acquired from the Government.

The Chairman informed that more than US$8 million has been invested in the cane fields, adding that US$20 million in materials and spare parts had been ordered to upgrade the factories, and these should arrive next month.

“Very soon, we will send industrial expert designers to the sites to make further designing and planning, so we hope in two to three years, after renovation, the factories will become more efficient and productive,” he said.

In the meantime, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, said that regarding statutory waivers, COMPLANT is benefitting from laws that already exist and apply to all registered farms that apply for approved farm status.

“The modernisation of the factories, in terms of taking in machinery and so on, they are benefiting from that, so technically one may refer to it as a waiver, but the truth is, it is allowed under existing arrangements to modernise factories and to provide for expansion in agricultural activity by any registered farmer,” he said.

The Government decided to sell the country’s five sugar estates, which were being managed by the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ), following periods of huge losses, which resulted in debts of more than $18 billion.

In June 2009, the two smaller factories, Duckenfield, St. Thomas and Long Pond/Hampden in Trelawny, were sold to local investors.  

By CHRIS PATTERSON, JIS Reporter