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FM
Former Member

Gov’t to bail out GuySuCo from financial crisis

May 27, 2015 10:51 am Category: latest news A+ / A-

 

By Jomo Paul

Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder

Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder

 

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Recently appointed Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder says the government will be providing subsidies to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) so that it will be able to sustain itself and pay staff but this is only for a limited time.

Holder made the comment while speaking to Members of the media on Tuesday, May 26 at the Guyana National Stadium where he pointed out that there was something amiss in the whole situation at GuySuco.

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) on Monday said it was informed by GuySuCo’s CEO Rajendra Singh that the Corporation is unable to pay senior and junior staffers of the sugar industry for this month – May 2015.

A joint release from GAWU and NAACIE stated that this may lead to termination of its operations which would mean that all employees – waged and salaried – except security personnel would not be provided with work from (Sunday) May 31, 2015.

However, during the interview, Holder told reporters that he was never informed about the closure of the industry and the company not being able to pay the staff evening during a meeting with GuySuCo’s CEO.

“The CEO had met me on Monday morning…he gave me a document…in the document it stipulated that GuySuCo has funds to last until the end of May…from June it will have a problem.”

The Agriculture Minister explained that he was therefore surprised two hours later when GuySuCo informed the unions that they could not pay wages.

“The government isn’t going to let GuySuCo down,” said Holder as he explained that APNU+AFC promised to convene a Commission of Inquiry into the Sugar industry and that will be done.

However until that is done, the government will be subsiding operational costs at the company – something that the previous administration has been doing for a number of years.

“There is no way that the government would not support GuySuCo until the end of the year or until the results come in…I spoke to him [Singh] this morning and I think we came to some understanding,” Holder noted.

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Cuba to help salvage Guyana’s sugar industry

May 27, 2015 6:12 am Category: latest news A+ / A-

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Cuban Vice President of the Council of Ministers Ulises Rosales del Toro sharing a light moment

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Cuban Vice President of the Council of Ministers Ulises Rosales del Toro sharing a light moment

[www.inewsguyana.com]

 

Cuban Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Sugar and Agriculture, Ulises Rosales del Toro who is currently in Guyana as a special guest to share in the country’s 49th Independence celebrations, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

 

The Prime Minister pointed out that part of their discussion was centered on areas of interest, particularly in the field of agriculture. He added that Cuba will work with Guyana in a joint effort to “help salvage our sugar industry.”

 

Further, he noted that Guyana will continue to work with Cuba to complete ongoing projects and programmes. The Prime Minister also thanked the Vice President for all the assistance that Guyana has been receiving from the country over the years since 1976, primarily in the area of medicine. [Extracted and modified from GINA]

FM

The system we use in Guyana is not wrong. It's what happens with the cane after it reaches the factory that is wrong. The Chinese sold us a load of rubbish that they themselves don't now how to use or even fix. The machine is worse than doing the job by hand.

Mr.T
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

The system we use in Guyana is not wrong. It's what happens with the cane after it reaches the factory that is wrong. The Chinese sold us a load of rubbish that they themselves don't now how to use or even fix. The machine is worse than doing the job by hand.

Even if they fix that Guyana cannot produce sugar at the marginal cost of Cuba, Fiji and other places.

FM

We don't know that for sure. Don't forget that the productivity at GuySuCo was down to the PPP, who basically paid voters to lime about. Granger will kick their backside if they don't deliver? Why you think that they are trembling with fear?

Mr.T
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

We don't know that for sure. Don't forget that the productivity at GuySuCo was down to the PPP, who basically paid voters to lime about. Granger will kick their backside if they don't deliver? Why you think that they are trembling with fear?

I hope they will show some improvement by making the data available to the people who own that state-owned corporation.

FM
Last edited by Former Member

* The truth is sugar is no longer a viable industry in Guyana. And do amount of reforms will get the industry back to profitability.

 

* NO WAY THE PPP WOULD HAVE SHUT DOWN THE SUGAR INDUSTRY.

 

* The PNC/AFC needs to do the right thing---gradually shut down the industry.

 

* Sell off the lands to the private sector---and watch them do their magic---other agri products will replace sugar---and agro processing will BOOM.

 

Rev

FM
Originally Posted by Rev:

* The truth is sugar is no longer a viable industry in Guyana. And do amount of reforms will get the industry back to profitability.

 

 

Rev

Your statements are conflicting.

Mitwah

Just curious, how is the bauxite company doing financially?  Is it government owned?  How many employees? 

Well by these questions you will see that I was out of touch with Guyana for a little while.

FM

The EU brought in some rules that has penalised former colonies. They increased their tariffs and banned imports of some finished goods. Like you can't export small bags of sugar, or you have to sell your stock to a European middleman who then rips you off.

Mr.T
Originally Posted by TK:

This is interesting. The ecological system under which they grow sugar in Cuba is very different from the polder agri in Guyana.

In addition the sugar industry on that island is almost dead, due to high costs and mismanagement.  This is the blind leading the blind.

 

Just to show how badly Guyana has fallen in the late 70s Guyanese sugar experts were used by other parts of the Caribbean, including the DR, because of research done on sugar cane and on production techniques.  Of course as those folks left, no one replaced them.  These were Guyanese Bookers folkis who remained after nationalization.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

The system we use in Guyana is not wrong. It's what happens with the cane after it reaches the factory that is wrong. The Chinese sold us a load of rubbish that they themselves don't now how to use or even fix. The machine is worse than doing the job by hand.


It isnt just Skeldon.

FM
Originally Posted by VVP:

Just curious, how is the bauxite company doing financially?  Is it government owned?  How many employees? 

Well by these questions you will see that I was out of touch with Guyana for a little while.


Sold to the Chinese and the Russians long ago.  They should have done the same to Guysuco, but politics dictated that sugar workers shouldnt suffer the loss of employment which the bauxite workers endured.

FM
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

The EU brought in some rules that has penalised former colonies. They increased their tariffs and banned imports of some finished goods. Like you can't export small bags of sugar, or you have to sell your stock to a European middleman who then rips you off.

So how is Guyana affected with these conditions?  Thanks.

FM
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

The EU brought in some rules that has penalised former colonies. They increased their tariffs and banned imports of some finished goods. Like you can't export small bags of sugar, or you have to sell your stock to a European middleman who then rips you off.


They didnt penalize former colonies.  German and the others just got tired of subsidizing former British and French colonies.  The EU is a net EXPORTER so didnt need the ACP sugar. 

 

Australia and others forced the EU to stop subsidizing ACP sugar as there was a sugar glut in global markets because the EU was dumping sugar.  There are still subsidies for EU producers, but they are EU taxpayers, so ACP countries cannot demand the same treatment.

 

I really do not know why people expected this neocolonial arrangement to0 last forever.  This was to facilitate Bookers and Tate & Lyle (sugar) and Geest and Fyffes (banana).  They have since moved on, so there is no more need to subsidize these industries.

 

I have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to the middle man and the EU banning imports from ACP countries of finshed products. Guyana doesnt sell finished products. We sell partially processed sugar, rice, bulk rum, etc.  Jamaica sells a bunch of branded products.

FM
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by TK:

This is interesting. The ecological system under which they grow sugar in Cuba is very different from the polder agri in Guyana.

In addition the sugar industry on that island is almost dead, due to high costs and mismanagement.  This is the blind leading the blind.

Mismanagement can be corrected.  We need a good analysis to prove that sugar is dead.

FM
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by VVP:

Just curious, how is the bauxite company doing financially?  Is it government owned?  How many employees? 

Well by these questions you will see that I was out of touch with Guyana for a little while.


Sold to the Chinese and the Russians long ago.  They should have done the same to Guysuco, but politics dictated that sugar workers shouldnt suffer the loss of employment which the bauxite workers endured.

Interesting.  I don't think any mass scale workers should have to endure unemployment.  Some kind of transition has to be planned.

FM
Originally Posted by VVP:
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by TK:

This is interesting. The ecological system under which they grow sugar in Cuba is very different from the polder agri in Guyana.

In addition the sugar industry on that island is almost dead, due to high costs and mismanagement.  This is the blind leading the blind.

Mismanagement can be corrected.  We need a good analysis to prove that sugar is dead.


Sugar prices are low, so that inefficient producers cannot survive.  This is why Guyana is one of the few Caribbean nations whcih still sees sugar as a serious export. I believe even the DR, which 40 years ago was one of the world's largest exporters, now uses sugar mainly for domestic purposes.  The Cuban industry is a shadow of what it used to be, and was never able to recover from the loss of the massive subsidies which it received from the USSR.

 

Maybe Brazil can help.

FM
Originally Posted by VVP:
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by VVP:

Just curious, how is the bauxite company doing financially?  Is it government owned?  How many employees? 

Well by these questions you will see that I was out of touch with Guyana for a little while.


Sold to the Chinese and the Russians long ago.  They should have done the same to Guysuco, but politics dictated that sugar workers shouldnt suffer the loss of employment which the bauxite workers endured.

Interesting.  I don't think any mass scale workers should have to endure unemployment.  Some kind of transition has to be planned.


The PPP provided no transition for bauxite. The industry was sold and the Chinese in particular fired the vast bulk of the workers, leaving Linden as a ghost town.

FM
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by VVP:
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by VVP:

Just curious, how is the bauxite company doing financially?  Is it government owned?  How many employees? 

Well by these questions you will see that I was out of touch with Guyana for a little while.


Sold to the Chinese and the Russians long ago.  They should have done the same to Guysuco, but politics dictated that sugar workers shouldnt suffer the loss of employment which the bauxite workers endured.

Interesting.  I don't think any mass scale workers should have to endure unemployment.  Some kind of transition has to be planned.


The PPP provided no transition for bauxite. The industry was sold and the Chinese in particular fired the vast bulk of the workers, leaving Linden as a ghost town.

Linden should diversify.  The PNC destroyed the bauxite company long before 1992.

R
Originally Posted by Ramakant-P:
 

Linden should diversify.  The PNC destroyed the bauxite company long before 1992.

So if Granger told Guysuco "drop dead", you would have been OK with that!

 

Of course not.  Your screams of the PNC killing Indos by sending them to the breadline would have been quite shrill.  You see in your head Indians are special people who deserve special treatment.

FM
Originally Posted by caribny:
 

So if Granger told Guysuco "drop dead", you would have been OK with that!

 

 

* The Rev would support that move 100%

 

* East Indians can do better than slaving away in cane fields.

 

* Many cane cutters who have migrated to the US and are now gainfully employed in real estate and other fields. Cane cutters have skills and talent.

 

* The PPP has always wanted to keep East Indians tied to the cane fields---that nonsense must stop.

 

* Once again, the Rev supports the phasing out of the sugar industry in Guyana.

 

Rev

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by Ramakant-P:
 

Linden should diversify.  The PNC destroyed the bauxite company long before 1992.

So if Granger told Guysuco "drop dead", you would have been OK with that!

 

Of course not.  Your screams of the PNC killing Indos by sending them to the breadline would have been quite shrill.  You see in your head Indians are special people who deserve special treatment.

The PNC does not have what it takes to run the sugar industry.  You have to invest in people and research.  Pumping Money into the sugar industry is what the PPP was doing.  If they failed, then the PNC would also fail.

 

R
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

The EU brought in some rules that has penalised former colonies. They increased their tariffs and banned imports of some finished goods. Like you can't export small bags of sugar, or you have to sell your stock to a European middleman who then rips you off.


They didnt penalize former colonies.  German and the others just got tired of subsidizing former British and French colonies.  The EU is a net EXPORTER so didnt need the ACP sugar. 

 

Australia and others forced the EU to stop subsidizing ACP sugar as there was a sugar glut in global markets because the EU was dumping sugar.  There are still subsidies for EU producers, but they are EU taxpayers, so ACP countries cannot demand the same treatment.

 

I really do not know why people expected this neocolonial arrangement to0 last forever.  This was to facilitate Bookers and Tate & Lyle (sugar) and Geest and Fyffes (banana).  They have since moved on, so there is no more need to subsidize these industries.

 

I have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to the middle man and the EU banning imports from ACP countries of finshed products. Guyana doesnt sell finished products. We sell partially processed sugar, rice, bulk rum, etc.  Jamaica sells a bunch of branded products.

The whole thing started when several developing countries like Brazil and Thailand challenged the preferential access ACP had in the Euro market. The challenge took place in WTO. Long before they went ahead and sink US$200 million into Skeldon many people told them that the market will not last. But they put a good cussin on the critics.

FM
Originally Posted by Ramakant-P:
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by Ramakant-P:
 

Linden should diversify.  The PNC destroyed the bauxite company long before 1992.

So if Granger told Guysuco "drop dead", you would have been OK with that!

 

Of course not.  Your screams of the PNC killing Indos by sending them to the breadline would have been quite shrill.  You see in your head Indians are special people who deserve special treatment.

The PNC does not have what it takes to run the sugar industry.  You have to invest in people and research.  Pumping Money into the sugar industry is what the PPP was doing.  If they failed, then the PNC would also fail.

 


Now that Guysuco is insolvent, can you tell us what a great succss the PP  were with Guysuco? After all its people appointed by Jagdeo who run it.

FM
Originally Posted by TK:
. Long before they went ahead and sink US$200 million into Skeldon many people told them that the market will not last. But they put a good cussin on the critics.

I remember the heated debates on GNI and the many articles which you wrote on this topic.

 

I especially remember the arrogant dismissal of you by the PPP who boasted that Guyana would be producing 600k tons with production costs at 11c.

FM
Originally Posted by Gupta:

Why is the current GuySuco Board members still around? They should all be fired immediately.

Like you nah listen to our president??? He is not firing anybody till he knows what they doing and how well they doing it. He is giving everyone in the old PPP administration a chance to redeem themselves and provide him with evidence that they are worth their job. Look how Chronicle already see a change of tune with the same people. Look how the country get clean up in quick time by the same people who did F all under the PPP.

Mr.T
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by TK:
. Long before they went ahead and sink US$200 million into Skeldon many people told them that the market will not last. But they put a good cussin on the critics.

I remember the heated debates on GNI and the many articles which you wrote on this topic.

 

I especially remember the arrogant dismissal of you by the PPP who boasted that Guyana would be producing 600k tons with production costs at 11c.

Same crap about Amaila Falls.  Free power to give away.  If only they knew the true situation.  That's why you can't have dunda heads in goverment, especially in a critical ministry that deals with energy infrastructure.

FM
Originally Posted by Mr.T:
Originally Posted by Gupta:

. Look how Chronicle already see a change of tune with the same people. Look how the country get clean up in quick time by the same people who did F all under the PPP.

If some nightmare scenario develops and GECOM decides that the PPP has a basis for a recount and this results in the PPP getting 33 seats Chronicle will once again resort to their PPP oriented behavior.

 

They think that the govt owns the paper so they should be shills for the ruling party.  Who ever they might be.

FM
Last edited by Former Member

 

GuySuCo’s $16B bailout request fast-tracks need for inquiry into sugar industry

Agriculture Minister Noel Holder Agriculture Minister Noel Holder

by Zena Henry

Even as government sets to consider a massive GUY$16 billion bailout for the financially crippled Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Agriculture Minister Noel Holder is even more anxious to put together the team of Commissioners to probe the ailing sugar sector before the end of next month.
 “The Commission of Inquiry will inquire into what went wrong, any abuses that might have happened, the problems that they encountered and where it should be going because you cannot be open-endedly handing GuySuco billions of dollars every year. It is not a bottomless pit so you have to know where you are going,” he told Demerara Waves Online News on Friday.
GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer Rajendra Singh told Demerara Waves that he met with the Minister one day ago, and according to the Ministry, the sugar industry is requesting $16B to keep them afloat for the rest of the year. Minister Holder hopes to meet with Finance Minister Winston Jordan this afternoon in relation to the requested finance.
He stated however that the sizable request would be taken to Cabinet next Tuesday and any determinations will be made there. Holder is adamant however that he is working effortlessly to convene the Commission of Inquiry before the end of June and is seeking answers in three months time; that is expected to be at earliest, September.
“I am looking for answers in three months time,” the Minister said, pointing out that his Ministry is holding firm to the promise made in the 100-day plan that was part of the government’s campaign manifesto. He added that the findings and recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry would influence how much money is allocated to the sickly industry in the 2016 national budget.
It will have to be decided however, whether the government is willing to give GuySuCo all that is requested or whether a partial sum will be handed over since the according to the industry’s CEO, GuySuCo will be unable to pay its staffers after May 31. This sum is due for consideration especially when the new government is still in the process of putting its budget together.
Aside from the huge cash injection being requested, the state-owned sugar corporation on Friday obtained a US$2 million loan from Jamaica’s National Commercial Bank (NCB) to help finance operations for another few weeks.
He added that the European Union has also got money lined up for the sugar industry, but will not be releasing that until Parliament reopens, where the necessary oversight is available. GuySuco, he said, also hopes to be paid another GUY$2 billion for the cogeneration plant that will all help to “bail the situation out.”
Meanwhile, the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) has urged that the country and government not fall hostage to GuySuCo, which they believe is “a national disaster.” The GTUC believes that the sugar industry is in need of parliamentary review, “which must be opened for the public and stakeholders to have input on the state of the industry, its future and the workers’ wellbeing.”
Wading into the industry’s management, GTUC is adamant that those responsible should be held criminally culpable.
“It is instructive super-remunerated Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Rajendra Singh, a PPP candidate in the 2015 elections, has only within the last two weeks realised that GuySuCo cannot pay workers. Politicians who use public office to entrench themselves or sacrifice our nation for power and greed should be held accountable to some rule of law or ethics. The action of the CEO borders on criminal sabotage and there must be some financial law that can hold these custodians of GuySuCo accountable in a court of law for mismanaging the Welfare Fund, NIS contributions and the entity.”
GTUC called on GuySuCo’s workers to resist efforts of political and other forces seeking to use labour to advance a political agenda. The Union said that, “for too long sugar workers have been exploited to serve political interest…”
GuySuCo accommodates more than 16,000 workers.

FM
Originally Posted by Ramakant-P:

New CEO of GUYSUCO said that only 20 million dollars needed to bail out the sugar industry.    

If the PPP was such a success why does Guysuco need to be bailed out?

FM

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