Wilmar's 2020 crushing season is under way after rain delayed start dates in three of our milling regions.

Invicta Mill in the Burdekin was the first of our eight mills to kick off, on 10 June. Our Herbert and Plane Creek mills started crushing operations on 23 June, and Proserpine started up on Wednesday.

We expect to process a total of 15.07 million tonnes of cane this season and manufacture 2.1 million tonnes of raw sugar.

 HERBERT

• Wet weather has limited harvesting operations and cane supply this week.
• With field conditions improving, we plan to resume crushing operations at Macknade Mill tomorrow and should reach full cane supply on Sunday.
• Average weekly CCS levels are slightly below budget.

 BURDEKIN

• Factory reliability for start-ups has been good and we’re now focussed on increasing crush rates.
• We’ve completed the first scheduled cleaning intermissions at all four Burdekin mills.
• Ground conditions are improving, but there are still some wet paddocks in the region and this is impacting cane supply.

 PROSERPINE

• Crushing got under way on Wednesday 1 July, following a 24-hour delay due to wet field conditions.
• The start-up went well and the factory is settling down, with just three days of operation so far.
• Close to a full day’s throughput is scheduled for today.

 PLANE CREEK

• We’re now in the second week of crushing operations and are seeing a steady rise in CCS.
• The process house is performing well but we are monitoring low bagasse levels.
• The harvesting sector is struggling with wet field conditions, resulting in some cane supply gaps.

PAUL GIORDANI
General Manager - Cane Supply and Grower Relations