Daily Sugar Price – 11th September 2019

Wednesday, 11 September 2019

The July 2019 contract settled at: 10.88 US c/lb

The Australian Dollar currently trades at: 68.61 US cents

Forward indicative prices in Australian dollars are:

*$346 for October Contract – 2019 season

$363 for 2019 season

$402 for 2020 season

$421 for 2021 season

$423 for 2022 season

Proudly brought to you by Kalagro Limited.
Information sourced from QSL.

KCGO REPRESENTATIVES MEET QLD LNP SHADOW MINISTERS

KCGO has recently had the opportunity to hold discussions with federal and state politicians in relation to matters of importance to this region and sugar industry that have a direct impact on our members.

On Wednesday 21st August KCGO Chairman Robert Malaponte, Deputy Chairman Robert Zandonadi and myself in conjunction with other members of Burdekin District Cane Growers Ltd had the opportunity to meet with Federal Member for Dawson George Christensen and Minister for Finance Senator Mathias Cormann.

Then on Monday 2nd September with Qld Government holding regional parliament in Townsville, Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Trade Deb Frecklington MP extended an invitation to participate in community deputation sessions with various shadow ministers. Invitation was accepted with the aforementioned KCGO representatives given an opportunity to discuss matters with:

• Leader of the Opposition, Deb Frecklington;
• Shadow Minister for Environment, Science and the GBR, David Crisafulli; and
• Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Tony Perrett

Topics that were raised/discussed at these meetings included:
1. World Sugar Price being negatively impacted by subsidised sugar (predominantly from India);
2. Electricity Prices;
3. Water Prices;
4. The Bill amending the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and checking the science by an independent body such as Office of Science Quality Assurance (OSQA). ;
5. R&D for an alternate use for sugar cane.
6. State Government Sugar Act Code of Conduct
7. Qld Government Stamp Duty applied to Agricultural Insurance

Les Elphinstone
Manager KCGO

Harvest Management Meeting Brief

HARVEST MANAGEMENT MEETING BRIEF

Collectives attended harvest management meeting on Thursday 29th August. Notes from meeting included:

Factory Performance

Invicta Mill
• Feeding station conveyor belt repairs
• Diffuser chain derailed off sprocket twice – major stops – corrective measures applied, monitoring increased.
• Scraper plate flipped.
• Opportunistic cleaning carried out during major stops.

Pioneer Mill
• Intake water spray pond pump failure impacted crush rates recently – repaired and back in service.

Kalamia Mill
• Stack repairs complete on Tuesday’s scheduled stop.
• Concerns for cracking in mill cheeks – visual investigations undertaken – no evidence found – monitoring vibration
• Ash sluice pipe repairs undertaken – establishing understanding of failure mechanism and prevention
• Slat conveyor side plate damage/fouling, damaged slats that required repairs, skirting has been damaged as well.

Inkerman Mill
• B2 Mill feeding issues identified – foreign object jammed in mill.
• Extended stop to repair bagasse conveyor tracking mechanism
• Exposed to Ergon faults blacking out factory

Incidents / near hits / derailments

Inkerman – Farm tractor drove out on Osborne Junction line and hit the Koolkuna loco

Crush Finish Dates

There are no official finish dates at present but at this stage end of crush will be approximately mid-November. This is subject to weather and factory stops.

Rail Corridor

Concerns were raised about harvesting contractors and farm vehicles often entering and driving out in front of locos while both parties are working in the same corridor. There are some concerns from harvesting contractors about where loco crews walk. Haulouts and farm vehicles can be travelling at a reasonable speed which is a concern for Wilmar employees that are working in this corridor. All parties need to be aware and take care when working in these areas.

Early Suppliers

Logistics/Traffic Officers often ask early supplier contractors on mill maintenance/clean days to start harvesting operations later than normal. Most contractors are continuing to cut early which negatively impacts on increase in cut to crush times. read more