It’s a sweet time of year for raw sugar
AGRIBUSINESS group Wilmar is exporting the region’s first raw sugar of the 2022 season.
Raw sugar – manufactured at Wilmar’s Burdekin mills from sugarcane supplied by Burdekin growers – has been loaded on to the KM Jakarta bulk carrier at Townsville port in the past week, destined for South Korea.
The first of Wilmar’s new season sugar from its Herbert mills has been loaded at Lucinda Sugar Terminal, near Ingham, this week, while the first Mackay shipment is scheduled for next week.
While wet weather has impacted harvesting and crushing, the outlook for the 2022 season is positive with a goodsized sugarcane crop and strong global sugar prices.
A group of Burdekin cane growers witnessed Wilmar’s first shipment at the Port of Townsville.
The Townsville Sugar Terminal tour was organised by Wilmar’s Burdekin Grower Marketing
Consultant Yolanda Hansen and Glen La Spina from QSL Operations, which operates the facility for Sugar Terminals Ltd.
Ms Hansen said 12 growers from the Burdekin region attended the tour. “It was a really informative tour and the growers thoroughly enjoyed it. They got to see raw sugar that originated from their local mill and, potentially,
their farms being loaded onto a ship destined for South Korea,” Ms Hansen said.
“They saw every stage of the sugar terminal process, from where the sugar is dropped out of the trains to be weighed and tested, to where it’s stored in the sugar sheds, to how it’s loaded into the ship.
“I’d like to thank Glen La Spina for facilitating and leading the tour.”
Sugar is the single largest bulk product at the Port of Townsville and Port of Lucinda with an average of 1.2 million tonnes of Burdekin sugar and 500,000 tonnes of Herbert River sugar exported
each year. The Burdekin has an estimated crop of 7.94 million tonnes and the Herbert 4.4 million tonnes.
Writing in this week’s Burdekin Production Report, Cane Supply Manager John Tait says the wet weather event earlier this month has continued to impact harvesting and crushing operations with no cane was harvested or crushed during Week 5.
He says crews worked on maintenance in preparation for the resumption of crushing this week.
“As always, we ask the public to stay alert around our cane rail network,” Mr Tait said.
THEY SAW EVERY STAGE OF THE SUGAR TERMINAL PROCESS, FROM WHERE THE SUGAR IS DROPPED OUT OF THE TRAINS TO BE WEIGHED AND TESTED, TO WHERE IT’S STORED IN THE SUGAR SHEDS
YOLANDA HANSEN