Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Annual General Meeting of the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate (MSS) was held, this morning, at the Labourdonnais Hotel in Port Louis, in the presence of the Senior Chief Executive (SCE) of the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security and Chairman of the Mauritius Cane Industry Authority Board, Mr Medha Gunputh.
The President of the MSS, Mr Jacques D’Unienville, the Chief Executive Officer of the MSS, Mr Devesh Dukhira, Directors of the Corporate Sector, representatives of planters and metayers, and other personalities were present at the AGM.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Gunputh highlighted that the sugar cane industry was the main foreign exchange earner during the recent difficult periods following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He pointed out that the sugar cane sector has played and is still playing an important role in the socio-economic development of Mauritius, while the revenue derived from this sector has, over the years, supported the diversification of the economy.
SCE Gunputh underlined that despite difficulties faced by the sugar cane sector over the past decade, the situation is much more encouraging for Crop 2022 where there has been an improvement on the world market prices coupled with the depreciation of the Mauritian rupee vis-à-vis the US dollar.
He remarked that, according to latest estimates from the MSS, the 2022 sugar price is estimated around Rs 21,000 per ton compared to the final price of Rs 16,765.09 per ton paid to producers for 2021, thus representing an increase by 25%.
With this favourable prevailing price of sugar announced by MSS for Crop 2022, he emphasised, the final net revenue from sugar, inclusive of other components from the cane plant such as molasses and bagasse, will largely exceed the guaranteed price of Rs 25,000 per ton of sugar exceptionally this year.
He also appealed to all producers to ensure that there is productivity improvement at all levels so as to increase the local production. Furthermore, Mr Gunputh dwelt on several measures announced in Budget 2022-23 aiming at better supporting the sugar cane sector, and on the preparation of the ‘National Biomass Framework’ which, according to him, has reached an advanced stage.
He also reassured all producers that Government will remain at their disposal to provide in one way or another any form of assistance to this industry, which will be called upon to continue to play its important multi-functional roles in our economy.
As for Mr D’Unienville, he observed that the sugar cane industry must be agile so as to adapt to the ever-changing market environment, in the quest for the highest selling prices for our sugars.
This, he stated, is best achieved through a centralised marketing approach, with the benefits of economies of scale; a diversified product base and market presence; reinforced bargaining power vis-a-vis buyers; and with the one-stop-shop concept facilitating sales transactions for all Mauritius sugars.
Moreover, he commended Government for the bold and forward-looking measure taken last year to remunerate bagasse at its true value. He also encouraged growers and millers to now take advantage of currently recovered prices so as to intensify innovation and improvements in their existing cultural practices and/or production processes in a bid to be even more cost-efficient.
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