Nordzucker Post 3/2025 - 2 September 2025

Successful start to the crushing season in Australia – first successes visible

While our European beet processing factories will start the campaign in the next few days, the crushing season in Australia has been in full swing since June. All three sites were able to start operating as planned after a comprehensive maintenance phase. A third of this year’s sugar cane processing has already been completed. “I am very proud of how our teams have got the sites up and running, commissioned new technologies and mastered the challenges of the season,” says Carl Morton, CEO of Mackay Sugar. 

Over the past few months, our colleagues at Mackay Sugar have not only completed extensive maintenance work but have also invested in forward-looking technologies that will primarily increase production efficiency. The Racecourse sugar mill, for example, is using a new falling film evaporator – only the second of its kind in the Australian sugar industry. The site uses gravity to evaporate a thin film of liquid on tube walls, thus concentrating sugar solutions in an energy-efficient manner. The new evaporator achieves higher throughput rates and significantly improves steam efficiency.

Michael Gerloff, Head of Business Unit Cane Nordzucker, explains: “The investments made in Australia during the last years and until today finally seem to show an impact and start literally paying off – in terms of production reliability, site efficiency and, last but not least, the confidence of our local sugar cane growers.” 

With the tailwind of these developments, Mackay Sugar is entering the second half of the crushing season in a stronger position – and we at Nordzucker are delighted with the successful progress and commitment of our Australian colleagues.