CANE growers across North Queensland are gearing up for the 2019 crush with the first mills on track to start next week.
It is expected to be a mixed result for growers in the North, with yields expected to be down in the Herbert River region due to flooding and ongoing rainfall.
Wilmar's Kalamia and Inkerman mills in the Burdekin are set to crush the first cane for the season on Tuesday, June 4, with Invicta and Pioneer scheduled to start a week later.
Crushing is expected to commence in the Herbert and at Plane Creek on June 18, and at Proserpine Mill on 25 June.
Herbert River canegrowers chair Michael Pisano said with lingering rain, it would be touch and go as to whether they could start crushing on June 18.
"Every night we have registered some rain, even small amounts but it is still very wet and some contract harvesters are doubtful they will be able to get going," Mr Pisano said.
"It is just constant, there are still puddles on the side of the road, the water table is very high and it is very boggy at this stage."
Mr Pisano said the quality of cane in the region was likely to vary widely.
"The last couple of weeks the crop has looked a lot better and has greened up a bit, there are paddocks that look pretty good for the season we've had.
"There will be a huge mix from pretty good cane, to stuff I doubt you'd even put a harvester in it's that bad."
Wilmar cane supply and grower relations general manager Paul Giordani said Wilmar expected to process about 15.41 million tonnes of sugarcane across its eight mills this year, to manufacture about 2.1 million tonnes of raw sugar.
"As a group, we're expecting a similar throughput for 2019 as last year, when we processed 15.44 million tonnes of sugarcane," Mr Giordani said.
"The crop estimate is down in the Herbert this year due to the big summer rain events causing flooding and crop damage, but we're seeing bigger crops in the Burdekin, Proserpine and Plane Creek regions."
Crop estimates for the region are Herbert at 4.26 million tonnes, Burdekin, 8.24 million tonnes, Proserpine 1.61 million tonnes and Plane Creek, 1.3 million tonnes.
Burdekin canegrowers chair Owen Menkens said while some Giru growers were flood impacted and would have had areas of cane that washed away, the remainder of the Burdekin had benefited from steady rain.
"I don't think it will break any records, but I think the rain has helped the weaker patches to get a bit more even," Mr Menkens said.
"I think the tonnes per hectare won't be much more than last year though, it may be a bit lower."
Proserpine canegrowers chair Glenn Clarke said the region was back on track two years after Cyclone Debbie, however he said the crop was slightly smaller than usual.
"We had a dry spell from about May to November, which was unusual for us, and when it rained, it rained and we got about half a metre in December and over a metre in January, though it didn't have the flooding impact," Mr Clarke said.
"That dry stretch held it back, then it got extremely wet so it takes a while to adjust but it will probably be about average for us."
Mr Clarke said it was likely they would crush out in the first week of December.
