Protesters at a State Cabinet meeting in Cairns were able to extract a further $12.1m from Premier Stephen Miles to assist with retraining workers should the mill close
A late hour bid from an investor to save Mossman mill from receivership has failed leaving receiver John Goggin of Warrells no choice but to sell the mill’s assets in a bid to recover wages and bank debt.
has kept the district going since 1897
Creditors include 124 mill workers who are owed wages and $1.2m in unpaid superannuation and $2.3m is owed to the Australian National Bank.
Naturally the banks do not miss out or do the receivers.
Some Mossman cane growers have spent up big on planting and fertilising this year’s crop although a lot of cane supplying Mossman mill is ratoon growth and not as productive as new cane.
There is a mooted reprieve in the wind however with Mackay Sugar, the owners of Arriga sugar mill at Mareeba privately indicating they might take over the mill operations and be ready to crush this year’s crop, with a view to continuing in the future.
No money would change hands if this arrangement were to occur. MSF has been contacted for comment.
Labor Premier Stephen Miles, speaking to a group of Mossman protesters at a Cabinet meeting in Cairns three weeks ago was forced to show the state government’s hand by offering $12.1m to assist with retraining the Mossman mill’s workforce should it close.
No more financial assistance has been offered to the mill since it received $47.9m in state and federal funding several years ago to keep the aged plant and machinery going and to set up a pilot plant for biofuel manufacturing.
Mossman Canegrowers chairman Matt Watson told the Cairns Post depending on the sugar price, growers were sitting on cane worth $60m that would likely rot in the paddock if the mill didn’t fire up in 2024.
“The government has made a lot of promises but they have not handed over anything yet and I don’t know how they are going to make $12m spread through the community,” he said.
Mr Watson said if the mill didn’t operate there was the possibility of trucking cane to MSF-run mills at Arriga or Gordonvale, but it was unclear if that option would be financially viable.
The historic Mossman mill was erected under the provisions of the Sugar Works Guarantee Act of 1893 and 1895 whereby the State Treasury advanced the company an amount covering the original cost of plant.
The mill was constructed in 1895 and the first crush began in 1897 creating a stable sugar industry for the new town of Mossman, 90 klms north of Cairns.
Sugar prices for 2024
- The spot ICE11 raw sugar price peaked at 28.14 cents per pound in November 2023. A weak AUD through October-November 2023 saw forward sugar prices in Aussie dollar terms surge to multi year highs.
- Significant upward revisions to Brazil’s forecast sugarcane crop in late 2023 resulted in a large raw sugar sell-off through December, the spot value of raw sugar dropped 25% through that month.
- Raw sugar has since experienced partial recovery with dry conditions prevailing across Brazil through the wet season, threatening to curtail 2024 sugarcane yields and sugar output.- MSF