Portvale Factory gearing up for grinding

PORTVALE Sugar Factory is gearing up to commence grinding as cane supplies continue to build up.

This is the third straight year that the factory will be the only one in operation as Andrews is still out of commission, with the authorities waiting to transform it into a multi-purpose facility.

An official of Portvale said yesterday that they probably would start grinding operations by today. By then the factory would have had enough canes to start the process.

Since Monday, vehicles have been hauling canes from the centres at three locations around the country to Portvale. That’s after labourers and mechanical harvesters took to the fields to begin reaping the canes.

When a team from The Barbados Advocate passed there yesterday, several large trucks were waiting to have the canes they were transporting weighed and eventually offloaded.

In the meantime, a meeting of key players in the sugar industry is scheduled for today. The Barbados Sugar Industry Limited (BSIL), the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) and the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) are meeting to discuss a number of issues.

BSIL Chairman, Patrick Bethel, said that the pay talks are only one component of the whole discussions, while praising the BWU for the matured and responsible approach to the issues. The issue of financing the crop is also to be worked out.

“We the BSIL and the BAMC cannot deal with that component simply because we are just creatures of the source of funding,” he remarked.

It is uncertain whether the funding is coming from Government either through the public purse or by way of foreign injection of money.

However, he noted that as has been the case previously, the BAMC will pre-sell some of the sugar. In the past the sugar was sold to Tate and Lyle, which then sends a cheque to the BAMC.

“I believe those arrangements are still in place with the other buyers. We have not been told there are no funds available.”

He also said that Portvale is raring to go, while noting that last week trials were conducted at the St. James-based facility.