Mackay canegrowers impacted by mill stoppages and wet weather

Growers are reporting the best crop in five years in the Mackay district, plus excellent sugar prices, but poor factory performance at all three Mackay Sugar mills - Farleigh, Marian and Racecourse, but predominantly Marian - has resulted in a frustrating outcome there, resulting in hundreds of thousands of tonnes of cane still to harvest.

The usual finish date is in November.

Further north, ongoing mechanical problems at the Inkerman Mill at Home Hill meant that season didn't finish until last Thursday.

At Maryborough, the season has been affected by major and ongoing issues with the transfer of cane from road to rail transport to get it to the Isis Mill following the closure last year of the Maryborough Mill by MSF Sugar.

Recent wet weather has compounded delays in most areas.

The crush in the Mackay region was 91.5 per cent complete early this week and Canegrowers Mackay Area committee chairman Joseph Borg said the expected finish date was close to New Year's Day.

"Mackay Sugar is a very forward-thinking organisation but this is a disastrous year for us," he said. "The mills have indicated they want to crush through Christmas, but it will be interesting to see how they go with supply, as contractors will be smashed by wages."

He said the estimated crop was just under 5.4m tonnes and they were harvesting about 85t/ha, which compared favourably to last year's 68t/ha, but the CCS content had lessened over the last fortnight, thanks to rain.

In an indication of growers' desire to complete the harvest, Mr Borg said despite 100mm of rain in storms last Friday and Saturday, very little time had been lost.

"Growers just got out there and kept going," he said. "We're looking at sugar prices we haven't seen for seven or eight years."

On a positive note, Mr Borg said ratoon cane was growing well, which boded well for the 2022 season.

"A cyclone could change all that, but at the moment we're so far ahead of where we were last year," he said.

Canegrowers Burdekin chairman Phil Marano said some 7.9m tonnes of cane had been cut across the Burdekin, similar to last year's harvest.

"We should be getting over 8m tonnes but people have gone out of cane, into grains and cropping, or they're rotating the ground out, as a consequence of previous prices," he said.

The season there had been a tale of two stories, with the three north side mills - Invicta, Pioneer and Kalamia operating much as usual, but Inkerman needing major work on its boiler.

As a result, Canegrowers Burdekin has called on Wilmar Sugar to fix the problems at the Inkerman Mill and get it back to reliability before the 2022 season.

"Growers are satisfied that Wilmar recognises that work needs to be done, and that it will be," Mr Marano said.

The call has been echoed by AgForce cane board president Ricky Mio, who said the mill's slow crushing rate was a long running issue that should have been fixed.

"The bottom line is our farmers make their money at the end of the season, once fixed costs of the harvest are covered," he said.

"Due to this, we run the risk of being out of pocket, and at the worst possible time of year.

"I understand that Wilmar is doing its best to get on top of these mechanical issues, but the fact that farmers have to bear the brunt of it is nothing short of disgraceful."

In recent years, Inkerman Mill has struggled to achieve crushing rates of more than 90 per cent of capacity.

Mr Marano said that what was also of concern was that the late finish to the season might mean there was not enough cane next season.

"But after years of bad prices sugar is now over $600 a tonne, and we can forward price - hopefully people are locking in some good prices," he said.

Other regions still harvesting are Rocky Point on the northern Gold Coast, Bundaberg, Maryborough and Isis.

A 'transloader' built to move can between road and rail for the Isis Mill has been plagued by problems, and the recent wet weather in southern Queensland has compounded the problem, although the rain has been welcome in what was a very dry district.

It's understood the mill will close on December 21, meaning there will be standover cane left unharvested.

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