ACFA Australian Cane Farmers Association : Summer rain sweetens the season

Cane farmers across the northern rivers are all smiles as recent rainfall and hot summer days provide the ideal growing conditions for sugar cane.

With last year's crushing season producing higher than forecast yields and sugar content (ccs), the NSW sugar industry has been enjoying a dream run across both the growing and production sectors.

Sunshine Sugar Chief Executive Officer, Mr Chris Connors commented, 'With the combination of stable weather conditions, high performing mill operations and a strong world price, our industry is enjoying a long awaited good run.'

The past ten years have been a hard slog for the local industry with challenging weather events, cane supply disruption, fluctuating sugar prices on the world stage and unstable input costs throughout the global financial crisis period.

'I applaud our growers here in NSW who have continued to show their resilience and commitment to what is one of the oldest and most established industries in the northern rivers region of NSW. These growers are well deserving of this good season, and so too, are our local communities. I would expect to see a positive flow-on effect for local businesses as grower confidence in spending improves,' says Mr Connors.

With over 100mm recorded already for the month of January across the Tweed, Richmond and Clarence Valley's, growers are hopeful of even bigger, sweeter cane this season.