Sugar cane production at Tongaat Hulett, for the period under review, decreased by 10 percent to 140 174 tonnes compared to 155 522 tonnes for the same period last year.

SUGARCANE growing and milling concern, Hippo Valley Estates Limited on Tuesday announced results for six months to September 30 showing an operating profit of $8 million representing, a 105 percent increase from the $3,9 millions recorded in the same period last year.
The company could, however, have done much better during the period under review if it had not been for low dam levels during the 2016/17 sugar cane crop season.
In a statement accompanying the company’s financials, board chairman Murray Munro said the company posted a profit and recorded a marked improvement in performance relative to the previous period despite suppressed cane deliveries and lower sugar cane production. Munro said the decent performance was largely on account of its diversified portfolio resulting from increased local sugar sales volumes relative to exports.
Sugar cane production at Tongaat Hulett, for the period under review, decreased by 10 percent to 140 174 tonnes compared to 155 522 tonnes for the same period last year. Cane deliveries to the mill amounted to 1 081 640 tonnes compared to 1 165 432 delivered in the same period last year, a decrease of seven percent. The board chairman said the company’s cane and sugar volumes were hurt by low dam levels.
“The overall volume of cane deliveries to the mill has been negatively impacted by lower cane yields due to the poor growing conditions precipitated by the restricted irrigation water availability due to lower dam levels prior to the onset of the rains in December 2016,” said Munro.
The company expects that the sugar cane production volumes for the year will also be suppressed owing to the impact of the lower dam levels in 2016 which caused the restricted irrigation in the key growing period for the current season’s crop.
Total industry sugar production volumes for the current season are also expected to be suppressed by the irrigation restrictions. Local sugar production projections for the season are set at between 390 000 and 410 000 tonnes of sugar compared to 453 000 tonnes produced in the previous season.
The situation is, however, expected to improve in the coming season because the current dam levels would provide full irrigation during the 2017/18 crop season.
This is expected to lead to a significant crop recovery by 2018/19. Total industry production is expected to reach between 502 000 and 517 000 tonnes of sugar in 2018/19.
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