U.S. SUGAR TO BEGIN 2008-09 SUGARCANE HARVEST TODAY

 Released: October 03, 2008
     

Clewiston, FL - October 3, 2008 - U.S. Sugar will begin its 2008-09 sugarcane harvest this morning and begin processing at the Clewiston Sugar Factory at noon today, October 3. The harvest was delayed from its scheduled Oct. 1 start due to rain. The company plans to harvest 170,396 acres, yielding an estimated 6.3 million tons of sugarcane and producing 13.8 million cwt. of raw sugar. The Clewiston Refinery is projected to produce 13.1 million cwt refined sugar. "Following an excellent repair season at the raw sugar factory, we are looking forward to getting this crop underway," said Robert Coker, senior vice president, public affairs.

Completing a record-breaking year, the Clewiston Refinery is 400,000 cwt. ahead of its targeted production for the year. With the Clewiston Refinery operating at a record-breaking pace, U.S. Sugar imported additional raw sugar from Mexico for the first time and expanded its sugar sales. Since May, more than 48,000 metric tons of Mexican "estandar" sugar has been delivered to the refinery and processed.

"It is important to note that this imported sugar has enabled us to process and sell additional sugar -- above and beyond the sugar sold contractually for this year," said Robert Coker. Coker said that statements made by competitors regarding the imported sugar are incorrect. The company had produced and delivered all the sugar contracts sold for 2007-08 season. Sugar contracts are sold well in advance, with nearly 90% of the sugar that will be produced during the upcoming season (starting in October) already sold. The sugar refining and packaging facility broke production records at the end of August for total refined production (12.91 million cwt), packaged production (4.65 million cwt), and liquid sugar production (634,222 cwt). Previous records: total refined production (11.34 cwt, set in 05-06), packaged production (4.13 million cwt., set in 03-04) and liquid sugar production (514,341 cwt, set in 06-07).

 


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Three years ago, the Refinery‘s capacity was expanded to enable the facility to refine all of the company‘s raw sugar production. Current capacity is 45,000 cwt. or 2250 tons per day. The expansion along with the enhanced high quality sugar produced by the modernization and consolidation of the Clewiston Mill and a stable team of refinery employees are credited with the record production. U.S. Sugar‘s state-of-the-art sugar factory in Clewiston is the result of a project, termed "Breakthrough" for its dramatic consolidation and transformation of the Company‘s two older raw sugar milling operations. The three-year construction project incorporated the best sugar technology from around the world.
 
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