With forecast crop for Australia of just under 31.5 million tonnes, the 2022 sugarcane crush has commenced today with the Tully sugar mill in Far North Queensland starting operations this morning.
Australian Sugar Milling Council (ASMC) Chief Executive Officer, Rachele Sheard, said Queensland’s share of this crop is just over 30 million tonnes representing an improvement on the 29.7 million tonnes crushed in 2021. From this crop, mills in Queensland manufactured 3.9 million tonnes of raw sugar last year and generated just on 850,000 megawatt hours of electricity.
“We welcome the start of the 2022 crush.
Better global sugar prices in 2021 have bolstered industry confidence and the improved crop in 2022 is testament to this.
A weather forecast for wetter than average conditions over coming months, combined with, increased input costs and a lack of regional skilled labour continue to be challenges right now but we should see most Queensland mills crushing by the third week in June,” she said.
“The improved outlook for sugar is good news for farmers, harvesters, transporters, suppliers, and for our sugar mill employees crushing the cane and manufacturing the sugar”.
Earlier this year ASMC released a report on the economic contribution of the sugar industry. This showed that over 3,300 small businesses work in the milling sector supply chain. Overall, the industry contributes $3.8m to the Queensland economy, as well as $2b in export earnings.
“Like other Queensland industries and businesses, the sugar manufacturing industry has had to contend with increasing challenges around supply chains, input costs and shortages of skilled labour. The global market for sugar remains distorted with subsidies and supports that make it a tough playing field for Australian sugar,” she said.
The ASMC forecast has projected the growing regions to produce:
- 6,786,300 tonnes in Northern region (including Tableland, Mossman, Mulgrave, South Johnstone and Tully mill areas)
- 12,340,000 tonnes in Herbert-Burdekin region
- 8,040,000 tonnes in the Central region
- 2,870,000 tonnes in Southern (including Bundaberg, Isis and Rocky Point mill areas)
-ENDS-
Background
Sugar is Queensland’s second largest agricultural export with a total annual revenue for the industry of almost $2 billion. Around 95% of sugar produced in Australia is grown in Queensland with the remainder in northern New South Wales. Australia exports more than 80% of its raw sugar to buyers overseas, placing it among the top five raw sugar exporters in the world.
ASMC is the peak organisation for the sugar manufacturing sector, working to transform Australian sugarcane by diversifying the industry, expanding trade opportunities and creating new markets. ASMC represents five sugar manufacturing companies which collectively produce 90 percent of Australia’s raw sugar at their 16 sugar mills in Queensland.
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For more information, please contact:
Rachele Sheard, Chief Executive Officer, 0408 777 898