Around 12,000 tonnes of sugar will be loaded on bulk carrier, Uni Harmony, at the Malau Wharf, Labasa, for export to European Union this week.

This is the second shipment for 2016 crushing season.

Fiji Sugar Corporation Labasa mill general manager, Karia Christopher, said the ship arrived on Monday morning and would leave for Western Division before the end of this week.

“We will only load 12,000 tonnes of sugar although we have 22,000 tonnes of sugar in the bulk at Malau,” Mr Christopher said.

“This is because the sugar from other sugar mills will also be loaded in this ship.”

Crushing so far

Meanwhile, Mr Christopher confirmed that since the beginning of this crushing season, they were for the first time able to crush 40,000 tonnes of cane the past week.

“This is the weekly highest supply we have received so far since the mill opened,” he said.

“During the past year’s crushing season, we used to get more than 40,000 tonnes of cane supply on daily basis.

“This year, the weekly cane supply is around 34,000 to 35,000 tonnes.

“The change in the supply over a year could be because of the effects and impact of Tropical Cyclone Winston.”

Mr Christopher said their target right now is to crush the remaining cane before the first week of November.

“Therefore, we urge farmers in Vanua Levu to harvest their cane as soon as possible,” he said.