Agara Sugar Factory Stops Functioning, Again

Sugar producing factory in town Agara, Central Georgia has again suspended functioning.

The factory’s administration claims the sugar they were producing was no longer competitive amidst growing imports from Europe after the authorities lifted a quota on white sugar imports.

The administration also said that the price of sugarcane, which from sugar is made, went up in the international market and the leadership of the factory decided to stop working.

According to the trade unions, the factory has 380 workers living in Agara and including the staff in a factory in Tbilisi, the total number of workers is 480.

Giorgi Diasamidze, Chairman of the United Trade Union, says the factory stopped functioning in November, but the staff was still receiving salaries.

He claims the employer will pay the workers a 7-month salary altogether.

“We are included in negotiations. We agreed with the administration that the factory will not change its profile and if the sugarcane price lowers, the factory will resume functioning,” Diasamidze explained.

Agara Sugar suspended operation in November 2017 too. The workers held protests, calling on the state to get involved and help the factory continue working.

On April 20 several dozen workers from a sugar factory in Agara marched 110 kilometers to the capital and demonstrated outside the building of Georgia's Government Administration.

Demonstrators from Agara said the factory is the only source of income for the town, and that up to 500 people will be left unemployed if it does not reopen. Protesters had been demonstrating outside the factory for over a month, demanding the government step in to save it.

Thanks to the involvement of the business ombudsman office, negotiations were held between the government and the company representatives and the factory reopened on June 1, 2018.

However, after exactly two years, the enterprise is facing similar problems and cannot continue functioning.