What’s Up with B.S.I.’s Mill?

Because B.S.I. cannot mill the estimated tonnes of sugarcane it had initially informed farmers it would do, this has left thousands of tonnes of sugarcane in the fields.  Osorio says the decision to take the sugar cane to Santander appears to be the right one.  Although B.S.I.’s mill is operating efficiently, there are other factors that may be adding to the problem.

On the Phone: Marcos Osorio, Chairman, Sugar Industry Control Board

“They are indicating that their mill is operating efficiently, but I think at the start of the crop they had informed the stakeholders that they would mill at six thousand eight hundred and not achieving that is basically telling us that they are having mechanical problems or processing problems reason why they are not able to mill more per day because four hundred tonnes less per day is significant and if we are at hundred days of milling that simply means that we have been leaving behind forty thousand tonnes of cane that should have been milled by now. Remember we started under wet conditions and just last weekend we had another downpour which impacts tremendously on mud levels and if mud levels are high then the mills need to slow down on the milling and also when they are producing plantation white sugar the milling rate normally reduces because there is a double process that has to happen and that simply reduces the milling rate.”