TULLY Sugar Mill has embarked on a record maintenance program in the off-season on the back of setting a new crushing record in 2016 – the third year in a row.
Mill manager Barry Dun said the mill completed the 2016 crush at 7.40pm on December 31.
A record 2,935,950 tonnes of cane was crushed at the COFCO-owned mill, about 38,000 tonnes more than the 2015 total.
Mr Dun said weather was the primary reason behind the bumper crop, although farming practices also contributed.
“The crop was there,” Mr Dun said.
“Our growers have produced the second highest yielding crop in succession which is quite unusual, and certainly growers deserve credit for their farming practices.
“I think they would also acknowledge that weather conditions were both very favourable for growing the cane and very favourable for allowing us to harvest late in December.”
While the tonnage was at a record high, the cane’s sugar content was “significantly down” on 2015, Mr Dun said.
“We have seen incremental improvements in how clean the cane supplied is and it’s something we talk a lot about with growers,” Mr Dun said.
“I know they are working hard on it, but it’s a difficult challenge.
“We would like to see more but we are happy there is progress being made.”
Mr Dun said it was difficult to attribute reasons for the low sugar content.
“Weather plays a big role with what happens with cane,” Mr Dun said.
“We had big yields per hectare in tonnes but the amount of sugar was lower.
“I think there is always a balance between how big the cane grows and how sweet it is and of course everybody tries to get the double and have big and sweet but that’s not always possible.”
The mill’s record crop has correlated with the size of the maintenance program – delivered during the off-season – with it too setting records.
“We are flat out,” Mr Dun said.
“We are looking like we will have another big crop this year although this most recent rain event has reduced that outlook a little but not a huge amount as there is some way to go yet.
“That means we need to be ready to crush cane on 30 May, and we do have our biggest maintenance program to undertake.
“There is a direct relationship with how hard the mill works in crushing the cane and how much work you need to do afterwards.
“We keep setting records for crushing it so we need to set records for maintaining it too.”
