Joint Ventures
Mackay Sugar and the British sugar refining and marketing firm ED & F Man first discussed establishing a refining joint venture in 1991, signing heads of agreement in late 1992. The company was known as Mackay Refined Sugars. Contracts were called for the construction of a refinery on the Racecourse mill site and work proceeded on the associated bulk storage and warehousing facilities at Mackay Harbour.
The Racecourse Refinery was built in 1994 as a Greenfield site following deregulation of the Australian domestic market in 1989. The refinery is built to compete on both the domestic and export markets and is world class in terms of quality and cost competitiveness.
In early 1998, Mackay Sugar, CSR Limited and ED & F Man formed a new refining joint venture, known as Sugar Australia Pty Ltd which met with the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The venture linked the sugar refining and marketing resources of the partners, including CSR's established refineries at Yarraville (Victoria), and Chelsea in New Zealand. In 2004, CSR purchased the Man Group's share of the joint venture.
The refinery utilises state-of-the-art technology for maximum efficiency and quality product. It has a current capacity of manufacturing 58 tonnes of bulk white sugar per hour or 450,000 tonnes per annum. Specialty sugar production capacity is 22,000 tonnes per annum. This is based on a 50 week year that allows a maintenance shutdown period of between 1-2 weeks per annum.
Exports
Exports of refined sugar from the Mackay facility are by way of purpose-built bulk BIBO (bulk in/bulk or bags out) ship. MV Pioneer, which boasts the most modern technology available in bulk shipping, made her maiden voyage in October 1996. Facilities at the Mackay Harbour site were improved with construction of a storage facility and upgrading of the packaging line to also enable "break-bulk" shipping of sugar. This has facilitated cheaper exports and greater flexibility in sugar distribution.