Nordzucker Post 01/2022 - 10 February 2022

Mackay Sugar: Second best harvest in the last ten years

After a busy season, Mackay Sugar has completed the 2021 crush in Australia. More than 5.3 million tonnes of cane with an average CCS (Commercial Cane Sugar) of 13.7 per cent (comparable to sugar content minus yield loss for sugar beets) was processed.

Well-distributed rainfall also led to above-average yields in the region of the three sugar mills. Starting with sufficient rainfall after the harvest in the previous year, the rainfall in 2021 also favored the growth of the sugar cane and the second-best harvest in the last ten years was recorded.

The 2021 season in the three sugar mills with an average of 199 days was longer than expected due to a large crop, weather and operational interruptions that made the crush continue into late December instead of the targeted November finish. Despite the difficulties of the season however, the employees at Mackay Sugar successfully saw almost all the expected crop crushed for the season, with less than 0.4% not being harvested due to excessively wet soils.

Carl Morton, Mackay Sugar General Manager Operations, notes: “What What has really stood out to me is the quality of our people and their dedication to our business and growers. Through the challenging and prolonged season, they have remained focused on crushing, and many worked over Christmas to see the crop off.”

Jannik Olejas, Mackay Sugar Chief Executive Officer made comment on the impacts of the sugar markets, “With regard to marketing and the development of the sugar price, we expect to close the fiscal year well above budget.” Looking ahead to the upcoming maintenance and investment period and the next crushing season, Michael Gerloff, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MSL and Head of Business Unit Cane Sugar, states: “The focus of our investment measures will continue to be on projects to improve the availability of the mills and optimise our power generation capacities. In addition, there will be a much stronger focus on the agricultural sector, particularly with regard to measures to secure the cultivation areas and efficiency on the field. With a view to next year’s harvest, the rainfall over the past few months, although always a hindrance to the current crush, has proved to be very beneficial for sugar cane growth.”