COMMENT, September 10 2015

COMPILED BY: Kevin Borg

Despite a shaky start to the 2015 harvest the local industry is now experiencing
ideal harvesting conditions, providing a much-needed opportunity to move past
the 50 per cent mark.
A continuous dry spell has seen CCS and PRS in the district increase to a more
usual level with Mackay Sugar achieving a weekly PRS (as of last week) of 14.72
and a season average of 13.15.
Plane Creek Mill continues to top the state with high readings with a weekly CCS
of 15.7 units last week bringing the seasonal average up to 14.83.
Some areas continue to suffer the consequences of high levels of Yellow Canopy
Syndrome (YCS). The severity of YCS throughout the Mackay Sugar area varies
greatly from area to area. In several cases where YCS was prevalent earlier, the
PRS levels are 3-4 units lower than the mill average. Plane Creek, while not quite
so severely impacted is recording a similar result.
While harvesting conditions and sugar make results are good due to the current
dry conditions, the beginnings of the 2016 crop are now being impacted by this
same weather. The district is now at the stage where growers are looking to the
skies for good falls of rain so that freshly planted plant and rattoon cane can get
established for the onset of a much hoped for wet season. Some areas of the
district have not experienced decent rainfall since the beginning of February
when the wet season failed to deliver.
At this stage the mills have settled into good weekly throughputs with only minor
stoppages impacting weekly total tonnages. With good milling performance and
weather conditions it is hoped the crush will be wrapped up by the second week
in November.
Sugar prices recently hit a seven year low however, in the past week we have
witnessed a move upwards in the sugar price with a near 6 per cent increase in
the past week. This appears to be driven by foreign currencies with the Brazilian
Real suffering dramatically after Chinas meltdown.
Also, rainfall in India has fallen behind the yearly average, with rainfall in the
main cane regions falling behind by over 50 per cent of expectations. In Thailand
El Nino is continuing to affect the crop with inadequate wet weather to offset the
drought impacts of the previous season.
- Kevin Borg, Chairman CANEGROWERS Mackay.

Sonia Ball
Communications Manager CANEGROWERS Mackay
Sonia_ball@canegrowers.com.au