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The private, family-owned company told workers at the starg of their shift on Wednesday that it is endinh the growing and processinfg of sugar as a food commodith but plans to move ahead with growing cropsd for the productionof ethanol. The company didn’ t give a timetable for endingsugar production. The shutdowm of the sugar operation leaves only one remainingh sugar plantation and millin ’s Hawaii Commercial and Sugar Co. on Gay & Robinson, whichh has vast agricultural land holdings on the west sideof Kauai, said it planxs to lease some of its fieldds to “various agricultural entities.
” The compan said it will lease its Kaumakani terminal and other assets to Pacifi c West Energy LLC, with which it has partnerexd to develop an ethanol productio plant. The plans have been delayed by difficulties in findingh financing for the projecy and a glut of proposed ethanol projects on the Mainland that are also trying toattract investors. The company also said it plansz to install an additional hydroelectric generatod to add 5 to 10 megawatts of powerd to the Kauaielectric grid. Gay & Robinsonj is Kauai’s ninth largest employer with 235 many of whom are represented by ILWULocalk 142.
The company said “it will continuwe to honor its contractual obligations to its including current employees as wellas retirees” but didn’g say if it planned to eliminate any jobs. Suga dominated Hawaii's economy for more than a century aftet the first plantation opened on Kauaiiin 1835. Hawaii sugar production peakesd in 1968 and began a long decline as the costs of labor and transportation combined to cut profite and make Hawaii sugar more expensive thanforeign competitors.
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