Sugar

Sugar is a bulk commodity produced from sugarcane or sugar beets. In Mexico, it is made from sugarcane. Sugarcane grows best in tropical areas whereas sugar beet is produced in temperate zones.

Once harvested, the cane or beets are crushed to extract juice. This juice can be used to produce sugar or ethanol. In the case of sugarcane, the remaining vegetable matter (bagasse) can be burned to produce energy to run the producing plant and supply energy to the local grid.

To produce sugar, the extracted juice is purified and the mixture is then dehydrated and thickened into syrup, which is crystallized. The crystals are separated from the remaining liquid to produce molasses and raw sugar, which is then sent to refineries for further processing.

We support Bonsucro’s efforts to increase the adoption of its standards and practices for the responsible production of sugar.

All relevant LDC facilities and trading entities are Bonsucro-certified and, since we do not grow sugar ourselves, we take steps to promote the organization to our suppliers and to merchandize Bonsucro-certified sugar wherever possible.

In 2019, we were able to supply all customers in the EU and Canada with Bonsucro-certified sugar. In the same year, we introduced a new water-saving decolorization process at our Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth (GA), US.