Groundbreaking Set for Large, New Sugar Refinery
isc | Jan 31, 2010
Even as heavy machinery and workers are doing preliminary work, construction officially gets underway Wednesday, February 3, in Gramercy, Louisiana, on what will become one of the largest capacity sugar refineries in the United States. The new million-ton-per-year sugar refinery is expected to bring more than 500 construction jobs as well as new plant jobs to the Gramercy area.
Start of LSR's new refinery construction adjacent to Imperial Sugar's existing refinery.
The sugar refinery will be built, owned and operated by Louisiana Sugar Refining, LLC, a joint venture among Sugar Growers and Refiners, Inc., Cargill and Imperial Sugar Company.
Sugar Growers and Refiners is a cooperative of about 700 sugar cane growers and eight sugar cane mills in Louisiana that markets 900,000 tons of raw sugar annually.
For its part, Sugar Growers and Refiners will supply nearly all of the raw sugar to the new refinery, bringing with it more than 200 years of collective expertise in growing and milling sugar cane.
“This really means a new era for the Louisiana sugar growers,” said Lonnie Champagne, general manager of Sugar Growers and Refiners. “It gives us the opportunity to have some 2,000 customers instead of two.”
According to Champagne, Sugar Growers and Refiners has been the largest supplier of raw sugar to Imperial’s Gramercy refinery for more than 20 years. Sugar Growers and Refiners also has been a supplier of Domino Sugar.
The new refinery will be located adjacent to Imperial’s existing refinery at Gramercy.
Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services, and Imperial Sugar Company, operator of the current sugar refinery at Gramercy, is America’s second largest sugar producer.
When LSR begins commercial operations in 2011, Cargill will be the exclusive marketer of the industrial sugar produced by the new refinery, Imperial will be one of the largest customers of LSR, purchasing refined products for its branded and small-package sugar, and the growers will continue to produce Louisiana raw sugar.
Representatives from LSR will be joined by local, state and congressional officials at the February groundbreaking.
Event details:
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2010
11:30 a.m. Groundbreaking for the news media
1:30 p.m. Presentation event
Adjacent to the Imperial Sugar Company refinery in Gramercy, Louisiana
1230 5th Avenue
Gramercy, La 70052
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