Slutsk Sugar Refinery May Stop Working since 10th February :: Charter'97 :: News

The consequences of the sugar problem have already affected common Belarusians, for example the "Beriozovskoye" Sugary Refinery employees who on the New Year Eve got a part of their salary in kind, i.e, in a 5 kilo sack of sugar which was valued for 78 thousand Belarusian rubles. How serious will consequences of this problem appear for sugar refineries and their workers? Has the production process been stopped? Do people get their wages? Will they be paid in sugar? What is going to happen if the situation does not improve? Yuri Gorbatko, the chief engineer of the largest Belarusian Slutsk Sugar Refinery answered the questions of the "KP in Belarus" newspaper.

- Yuriy Stepanovich, is your manufacture working?

- Yes it is working and at full capacity. Sugar production process didn`t stop for a single day.

- Are the people paid their wages?

- Certainly they are. There was not a single breakdown. Our wages are the highest among the manufactures of the "Belgospischeprom" concern. And we take the first place in the Slutsk district. The average salary at our manufacture is around 900 thousand Belarusian rubles.

- Have the issue of paying wages in sugar been considered?

- No. If we can`t sell it, will the people themselves sell it out? Now we deliver sugar to the local market and live on this.

- And which part of your output was exported to the Russian market?

- We exported around 100 thousand tons of sugar to Russia. And almost the same quantity was realized at the local market.

- What stock of sugar is kept at the factory today?

- Around 90 thousand tons .If we are to sell it at the local market even a year won`t be enough for its realization, that is why now we are waiting for the news from the Russian market… There are large stocks of sugar at other factories, too. By February it will total around 360 thousand tons. It is not difficult to calculate for what period this volume will be sufficient? Roughly speaking, the demand in sugar of 10 million Belarusians is 360 thousand tons. That means, that this stock of sugar will be enough for a year period. So, next year we may not even plant sugar beet.

- Where do you keep your sugar stock?

- At our own warehouses and at the stores of other factories. Our warehouses have already been filled over, that is why we are facing difficulties .In Slutsk it is feasible to keep around 60 thousand tons, the rest of the output is kept at the stores of other factories which we cooperate with, such as Kommunarka, Slodych, Krasniy Pischevik. It is not easy to find warehouses meeting all the necessary requirements. The store should be mechanized, heated, clean , it should comply with the sanitary standards. Unfortunately, we do not have many warehouses of such standard at our disposal.

- But if the situation does not improve what will you do then?

- We shall continue working until 10th February to process all the stored sugar beet. And it is hard to say what we shall do then. Without selling sugar to Russia, the manufacture will have nothing to do but to stop working. Otherwise we`ll work only for losses. Then we shall start the factory maintenance , and selling sugar at the local market. But hopefully, the problem will be solved in January.