Operations resume at Sezela mill
He stressed that it was critical that only fresh cane be supplied to the mill going forward to ensure that the mill was able to maximise cane crush for the remainder of the season.
The recent temporary closure of the Sezela Sugar Mill resulted in much financial hardship for many South Coast sugarcane growers and their employees.
However, the mill has resumed operations.
Ofentse Dijoe, communications manager for Illovo Sugar (South Africa) said this was due to the hard work and determination of the mill staff.
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“The Sezela mill is one of the most mechanically reliable sugar mills in the South African sugar industry and consistently records mechanical efficiencies of 97.8 percent and mechanical breakdown rates of 3.15 percent.”
This season, Mr Dijoe said, the mill had recorded a mechanical efficiency of 99 percent and a breakdown rate of 1.96 percent just prior to the week the challenges with the low purity cane began.
He explained that the efficient conversion of cane juice to sugar crystal was highly dependent on fresh raw material.
“It is regrettable that about 26 000 tons of cane destroyed in accidental and runaway fires had to be rejected due to being in too poor a condition to process and which would otherwise have compromise the machinery in the mill, without generating any sugar.”
He stressed that it was critical that only fresh cane be supplied to the mill going forward to ensure that the mill was able to maximise cane crush for the remainder of the season.
“We will continue to engage with the growers to find ways of avoiding a similar situation in future,” he added.
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