First and foremost, the TC/TS is primarily dependent on the quality of the cane, and, secondly, on the overall efficiency of the factory which is measured by the percentage of the sugar in the cane which ends up in the bag. At present, our sugar factories average 79.2 per cent (last five years) and the most efficient factories in the world average 85 to 86 per cent. If we process 539 400 tons cane to produce 58 000 tons sugar at 9.3 TC/TS (actual average for the last five years), the sugar in the cane is 58 000/ 79.2 per cent = 72 232 tons. If we can obtain 85 per cent efficiency, we would produce 62 247 tons or 4 247 tons more due to the increased efficiency, and not the 22 to 24 000 tons more as suggested by Sir David.
In other words, we are potentially losing just over $4 million per year due to factory inefficiency, and to invest $170 to 200 million for a new factory to possibly recover $4 to 5 million per year could hardly be justified as the interest on $170 million at six per cent alone would be $10.2 million, and the likelihood is that the price of raw sugar will fall further. In order to obtain 7 TC/TS we will require a huge improvement in the juice quality of the cane entering the factories.
In recent years, the yield of cane per acre has fallen and also the percentage of sucrose in the cane has declined, indicating that our major problem is in the field rather than the factories and is probably due to the decline in organic matter in our soils. Another cause of the poor results in recent years has been the delay in the start of the crop. The timely reaping of the canes is essential so as to obtain the maximum sucrose content. Delays due to industrial disputes at the start of the crop must be avoided at all costs.
The three major losses in a sugar factory that affect its overall efficiency are the loss of sugar in molasses, bagasse and filter press mud.
The loss in molasses could be reduced by increasing the efficiency of the boiling house, which could be done by installation of instrumentation at each step in the process and the computerisation of the overall operation, thus removing the possibility of human error. The loss in bagasse is caused by the inefficiency of the milling process and I am convinced that the mills at Portvale and Andrews are capable, with minor modifications and additions, of extractions comparable with world averages. I
think that all the technical persons in the industry agree that Bulkeley must be closed as being beyond repair. The feasibility study, re the establishment of a single factory to which Sir David referred, even though it was carried out by a company which sells sugar factories and purchases raw sugar, recommended several scenarios. These included:
At a public meeting, to which I was invited, the consultants admitted that building a new factory could never be financially viable without huge subsidies by the taxpayers.
In closing, whatever we decide to do, it will take at least three years to implement. The Barbados Society for Technologists in Agriculture held a think tank on the future of the Barbados sugar industry and recommended that:
Sir David must be aware, as the owner of the most efficient, state-of-the-art distillery in the Caribbean, that there are some old 18th century distilleries in the French islands that produce and sell their rums for BDS $60 to $70 per bottle, or ten times what he gets for a bottle of his high-tech rum. It is interesting to note that during the early '90s both Portvale and Andrews factories practised co-generation and fed surplus electricity into the Barbados Light & Power (B.L.&P) grid for which they were paid 12¢ per kilowatt (kWh) hour, while B.L.&P was charging consumers 32¢ per kWh, and now, all of a sudden, we are told that electricity will be sold at a guaranteed profit to the industry. I would here and now like to make it clear that I support the continued cultivation of sugar cane in Barbados. However, as you can see from the above, I am totally convinced that we must look for alternatives to the production of raw sugar for export.