THE Labasa Mill has produced the highest tonnes of sugar in the country so far this year with about 38,000 tonnes produced as of last week.
Lautoka Mill records the second with about 29,000 tonnes, Rarawai Mill in Ba comes in third with about 25,000 tonnes and Penang Mill in Rakiraki with about 16,000 tonnes.
This was revealed by Labasa mill manager Christopher Karia in his presentation to the permanent secretary for Provincial Development Lieutenant-Colonel Inia Seruiratu and divisional commissioners in Labasa last week.
"The Labasa mill has crushed a total of 357,597 tonnes of sugarcane while Lautoka with a total of 294,169 tonnes, Rarawai with 245,283 tonnes and Penang crushing only 152,062 tonnes," Mr Karia said.
"Such improvement is attributed to mill efficiencies, close supervision and teamwork from our workers."
He said if all goes well, they hoped to produce about 700,000 tonnes of sugar next year.
"The dry weather is affecting the cane sizes this year and we are pleading with farmers to continue to supply their cane so our sugar production is not affected," he said.
With the 15 weeks of normal operations, Mr Karia said the mill was a few steps away from achieving the international standard of crushing.
"We just need to carry out a few maintenance work because the mill is more than 100 years old.
"Otherwise, all is well at the mill," he said.