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2003 Sugar Industry Guidance Group is established to prepare an overarching Industry Reform Plan.
2004 The Queensland Sugar Industry Reform Act 2004 partially deregulates the industry to dismantle statutory
cane production areas and permits sugarcane growers to enter supply contracts with the mill of their choice. It
also provides for exemption of the compulsory vesting powers when raw sugar is used for specified alternatives,
such as ethanol and direct consumption. The Sugar Industry Guidance Group draft industry report is released.
2005 The Queensland Government repeals the vesting powers of Queensland Sugar Limited (effective from 1
January 2006) and deregulates the marketing of Queensland’s raw sugar exports.
5.2.2 Cane Payment
The method for making payment for delivered cane has evolved over time in the sugar industry as
outlined below. Payment formulae which reward best practice and product quality will be important
for the biomass industry, particularly when multiple product streams and markets are being served.
Historically cane payment was arbitrated by government. The cane payment formula was initially
developed to divide net proceeds from the sale of raw sugar between the miller and farmer in
proportion to their assets. The cane payment formula is a function of the price of sugar and the
recoverable sugar content known as commercial cane sugar or CCS. When introduced in 1916 the
cane payment formula was based on industry production and performances at the time (i.e. mill
standard efficiency of 90%; average cane quality of 12 CCS). The proceeds were effectively split in
the ratio of two thirds to the farmer and one third to the miller. Over time this formula provided the
basis for cane payment with minor modification by adding a constant that has grown to $0.578.
Calculating CCS (Source: Canegrowers, 2010)
In most sugarcane growing areas payment of cane is a function of Commercial Cane Sugar otherwise
known as CCS (see above). The calculation of CCS assumes that sugarcane contains pure sugar,
impurities, water and fibre and that for every kilogram of impurities which is removed at the mill,
half a kilogram of sugar is also removed. In effect CCS is equal to the sugar in the cane minus half
the impurities. Both the sugar and impurities are difficult to measure directly, however they are
relatively easily measured in juice. Sugar is traditionally measured with a polarimeter, which
measures how the sugar solution influences polarised light (called pol). Impurities are determined by
measuring all of the material which is dissolved (called brix) and taking away the sugar (ie pol).
Therefore:
Because brix and pol in juice are not the same as brix and pol in cane, correction factors which
include the cane fibre are built into the CCS formula, which becomes:
Where:
P (1-
P is % pol in first expressed juice
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