Red Geurts, LSR General Manager

Richard “Red” Geurts, CEO and general manager for Louisiana Sugar Refining, LLC, shows his excitement as he discusses the building of the new sugar refinery in Gramercy, La. The construction of the $120 million sugar refinery in Gramercy is a three-way investment between Cargill, Imperial Sugar Company (ISC) and Sugar Growers and Refiners (SUGAR).

He is pleased to announce the building of the new sugar refinery continues to move forward at a fast pace and activity at the site has increased since LSR took over operations of the existing Imperial Sugar Company facility located on the premises and began operating as a new entity. According to Geurts, LSR spent the month of January making adjustments at the existing plant in order to begin producing sugar in February, including implementing several major changes to the former Imperial Sugar refinery.

Although the new plant is not yet complete, Geurts reports that LSR is operating portions of the new refinery that were fast-tracked to get into production as quickly as possible, such as a new bulk load out system and the ion exchange filtration system, which replaces the old process of using bone char.

LSR has also installed and begun operating its own packaging and palletizing system, producing 50-lb and Tote bags. It has already begun providing sugar to Imperial Sugar’s packaging facility located on the site since the beginning of last month. “We refer to Imperial Sugar as an ‘over-the-fence’ customer because they take sugar right out of the bulk storage system to charge their packing lines in order to produce product for the retail market,” said Geurts.

Cargill, which is the exclusive marketer of the industrial-use sugar produced by the refinery, began shipping sugar last month from the Gramercy plant to its customers.

“Automation is the biggest improvement being made at the new LSR refinery,” said Geurts. “We are leveraging automation to improve efficiencies and the operating environment that employees will be working in. This type of system will improve safety by reducing the risk of human error as well as improve product consistency and reliability.”

The new refinery is scheduled to begin commissioning early this summer and begin producing refined white sugar by August. At this point, LSR will begin shutting down portions of the old Imperial Sugar refinery. However, LSR will continue to operate the existing boilers, the cogeneration plant, the waste water treatment system and the storage area for the raw sugar.

Geurts has spent the last 40 years in agricultural processing. He began his career in the grain industry then worked in the flour milling industry, and the barley and malting industry for a time. Most recently he was with Cargill in the company’s corn refining business. He moved with his wife from North Dakota to head the building of the new refinery in Gramercy.

“I welcome the opportunity to lead the building of the LSR refinery and be part of the sugar industry,” declared Geurts. “The biggest advantage will be the diversity of the ownership base that includes the partnership between the sugar growers, Imperial Sugar and Cargill. The LSR leadership team is focused on leveraging the strengths of the three partners in making the venture a success.”

The LSR refinery will be one of the largest, if not the largest, cane sugar refinery in the U.S. when completed. The design capacity is 2 billion pounds of white sugar per year or one million tons. The plant is expected to employ approximately 190 workers.

Significant progress has been made since the groundbreaking took place earlier this year in Gramercy, LA, with several milestones already reached. The refinery will be one of the largest in the nation and include four facilities over seven acres.

The steel structure for the process building, where clarified sugar liquor will be refined and converted into granulated white sugar and liquid sugar, has been erected up to the third floor. The slabs and housekeeping pads have been completed on the bottom floor and the second level floor has been poured. The majority of process tanks and decolorization bodies for the process building, along with four silos, have been installed. Steel erection for the drying and screening building has been initiated and is constructed up to the fourth level.

Load Out Tanks at LSR Refinery

The foundation for the bulk storage and loading station was completed this summer. This facility, which will be used to store large quantities of sugar for loading onto trucks and railcars, will house six industrial size storage bins. Steel for the bins has been erected and all six bins have been installed.

For increased efficiency and safety, the storage and loading facility will include a state-of-the-art pneumatic conveying system, called a dense phase system, which will be used to convey the sugar that will be produced each year at the refinery for the ISC packaging facility.

According to Brian Harrison, Vice President of Sugar Technology for Imperial Sugar Company and the company’s primary liaison for the project, “The enclosed pipelines of the system protect the material from contamination and virtually eliminate the presence of sugar dust in the atmosphere.”

The three compressors for the dense phase system have been installed and MAC Equipment, based in Kansas City, MO, has delivered 85 percent of the equipment required to operate the system. Steel necessary to complete the dense phase is scheduled to arrive at end of October.

Engineering on the remaining facilities is nearly complete and construction will begin over the next few months.

The new refinery is scheduled for completion by the summer of 2011 and is projected to employ approximately 150 employees.

Erythritol is a polyol (sugar alcohol) that occurs in low levels in fruits and fermented foods, and its benefits as a sucrose replacer in foods include its zero-calorie content, zero GI level and low laxative effect.

European marketing manager for Cargill Sweetness Henry Hussell told FoodNavigator.com that increased US stevia sales were “driving interest in erythritol amongst consumers and as a natural sweetener in its own right”.

Source: Foodnavigator.com

A patent search conducted by Leatherhead Food Research (LFR) during research for its new report on the global intense sweeteners market, reveals that PepsiCo’s Quaker Oats division has developed a method of modifying oats using enzymes in order to derive a potent natural sweetener.

The application shows that Quaker has developed a method of producing a natural sweetener from oats that is “sufficiently sweet to allow it to be used as a supplement or replacement for sweeteners such as sucrose or sucrose substitutes, which are conventionally added to grain-based food products”.

According to the patent application, published last year, Quaker is exploring a number of potential applications: “It is contemplated that the naturally-derived self-sweetened compositions … can be used in a number of food products and beverages.

“For example, it is contemplated that the natural sweeteners can be used in oatmeal and other ready-to-eat cereals, beverages and puddings.”

The method outlined in the application involves hydrolysing oats with an enzyme to obtain modified flour and then drying the flour to obtain a sweetener composition. Suitable raw materials include whole oat groats, oat flour, rolled oats, partially milled oats and oatmeal.

Cargill explores new sweetener

Ingredients giant Cargill, meanwhile, has also filed an application to patent a novel sweetener comprising specific stereoisomers of monatin, a naturally occurring, high-intensity sweetener suitable for use in tabletop sweeteners as well as food and drink products.

Unlike some other intense sweeteners, monatin has no bitter metallic, acidic or astringent aftertaste, claims Cargill. It is also more stable than aspartame, has a cleaner taste than saccharin, is sweeter than sucralose and does not have the ‘liquorice’ aftertaste sometimes associated with stevia-based sweeteners, adds the firm.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal receives a New Orleans Saints hard hat from Lonnie Champagne, General Manager of Louisiana Sugar Cane Products, while speaking to more than 250 attendees at groundbreaking for the new LSR cane sugar refinery in Gramery, La. Jindal emphasized the economic development importance of the new plant to Louisiana.

The new refinery will produce a million tons of refined sugar a year, making it the largest sugar refinery in North America. It is expected to bring more than 500 construction jobs as well as new plant jobs to the Gramercy area.

The unique nature of the joint venture behind the refinery also promises to safeguard the livelihood of hundreds of Louisiana sugar farmers and strengthen the industry as a whole.

Lonnie Champagne, General Manager, Louisiana Sugar Cane Products.

The new plant will be owned operated and owned by Louisiana Sugar Refining, LLC (or LSR), a joint venture with Sugar Growers and Refiners, Inc., Cargill and Imperial Sugar Company.

Sugar Growers and Refiners represents 700 sugar cane growers and land owners, eight sugar cane mills, and more than 10,000 workers throughout 23 parishes in southern Louisiana. All total, the group provides 42 percent of the nation’s sugar cane crop.

The prosperity of sugar cane farmers is tied to fluctuations in the price of raw sugar. As part owner of the refinery, Sugar Growers and Refiners makes it possible for its members to participate in the marketing and profits of refined sugar.

“Through this joint venture, the Louisiana sugar industry takes a giant leap forward into the next generation,” said Lonnie Champagne, general manager of Sugar Growers and Refiners. “By combining our farming expertise with the refining and marketing expertise of Imperial and Cargill, our growers and mill owners will benefit from the entire sugar production process, which takes the sugar from the field to the table.”

Frank Minvielle, chairman of Sugar Growers and Refiners, said that because of the tight economic situation, the co-op was losing four to six farmers a year and that “the new refinery is a matter of survival.”

Frank Minvielle, chairman of Sugar Growers and Refiners, said, "The new refinery is a matter of survival.”

Minvielle, who also is a sugar farmer and president of Cajun Sugar Co-op, went on to explain that the lending institutions farmers rely on to get crop loans will feel more confident now that sugar growers will have the ability to participate in the price of white sugar.

In his remarks, Governor Jindal stressed this new farm-to-market vertical integration will provide a competitive advantage for Louisiana’s sugar industry. “Indeed, these are the kinds of projects that not only create good jobs for our people, but also strengthen the competitiveness of our agriculture industry.”

Alan Willits, President, Business Unit Leader, Cargill Corn Milling North America, Lonnie Champagne, General Manager, Louisiana Sugar Cane Products and John Sheptor, President and CEO of Imperial Sugar at groundbreaking of new Louisiana Sugar Refining plant.

Construction now is officially underway on the new state-of-the-art, 3,100 tons per day Louisiana Sugar Refining (or LSR) refinery at Gramercy – a joint venture with Louisiana growers and millers, Cargill and Imperial Sugar Company. The sugar cane refinery – located near both Baton Rouge and New Orleans – signifies a new era of competitive strength for the sugar cane industry in southern Louisiana and America.

For the approximately 700 Louisiana sugar growers, the sugar refinery means economic stability and teaming with reliable production, marketing and distribution partners.

For Imperial Sugar Company (NASDAQ: IPSU), the new refinery will result in the retirement of Imperial Sugar’s existing refinery built originally in 1898. Following the start up of the Louisiana Sugar Refining refinery in 2011, Imperial will own or participate in two of the most modern and safest sugar refineries in North America. Imperial Sugar’s other major sugar refining plant is located at Port Wentworth, near Savannah, Georgia.

“We at Imperial Sugar Company are particularly excited about what this new sugar refining and production plant means for southern Louisiana and the future of the sugar cane industry,” said John Sheptor, president and CEO of Imperial Sugar Company. “Work on the new refinery immediately means approximately 500 construction jobs, followed by new job opportunities for workers when the refinery opens, continuing employment for our associates at Gramercy and an expected economic boost to the region.”

Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, speaks to more than 250 groundbreaking attendees.

Imperial Sugar’s Sheptor said construction adjacent to the existing refinery would allow LSR to take advantage of current infrastructure and operational support and promote an orderly transition from the existing refinery to the new, state-of-the-art refinery while at the same time keeping the option of running the existing refinery longer if needed.”

Alan Willits, President, Business Unit Leader, Cargill Corn Milling North America, said:

What each company brings to this alliance creates an almost perfect union. Imperial’s Gramercy site, its existing assets, infrastructure and its commitment to purchasing sugar for its on-site retail packaging business gives LSR strategic benefits and efficiencies that it would not otherwise have realized. The cane growers of this region have a 200+year heritage in growing and milling sugarcane and give LSR a sturdy foundation in this region’s rich history. But to fully participate in this industry for the next generation, they needed to take it a step further, into refining finished products and marketing them to food customers.

That’s where Cargill comes in. Cargill has been marketing to food makers for most of our 140 years. We sell flour, salt, flavorings, oils and an array of sweeteners, among many other ingredients. Adding sugar to our portfolio is a natural extension. And there’s no better place to make high quality sugar for those U.S. food manufacturers than right here in Louisiana.

Willits said the joint venture will attempt to follow a path as a good employer, a good supplier to its customers and a good corporate citizen.

When the new sugar refinery is completed in 2011, Imperial will continue to operate the small bag packing facility in Gramercy, with refined bulk sugar purchased from LSR under a long term, market-based supply agreement.

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Louisiana Sugar Refinery construction at Gramercy, La.

A news and information Web site has gone online to provide a steady flow of updates on construction and other developments for the new million-ton-per-year sugar refinery at Gramercy, Louisiana.

LouisianaSugarNews.com debuted recently with an artist rendering of the Louisiana Sugar Refining (or LSR) plant plus photos and information for the news media in southern Louisiana.

The sugar refinery will be built, owned and operated by Louisiana Sugar Refining – a joint venture among Sugar Growers and Refiners, Inc., Cargill and Imperial Sugar Company. Sugar Growers and Refiners is a Louisiana cooperative representing eight sugar cane mills and more than 700 Louisiana sugar growers in Louisiana.

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.

At a special February 3 groundbreaking event near the site of the new cane sugar refinery, representatives from Sugar Growers and Refiners, Cargill and Imperial Sugar will speak about how the joint venture will benefit the community. They will be joined by other local, state and congressional officials.

LouisianaSugarNews.com will provide news coverage of the event, including photos and video as will ISCNewsroom.com. The new site was developed by members of News Group Net, the team that works with ISCNewsroom.com.

Click here to access LouisianaSugarNews.com.

Australia, the world’s third-biggest sugar exporter, offers international companies a more stable political and economic environment and greater financial and legal transparency than Brazil, the largest producer, analysts led by Simon Thackray at RBS, wrote in a report dated yesterday.

“High valuations displayed for Brazilian assets reveal the strong demand for sugar assets shown by large multinational sugar and agribusiness firms,” RBS said. “We see this demand as a long-term play on a rising soft commodity cycle and the source of a potential rival bidder to Bright Food.”

CSR, Australia’s second-largest maker of building materials, has been seeking to sell the unit to take advantage of surging sugar prices. Bunge Ltd., the world’s second-largest trader of the sweetener, agreed Jan. 12 to pay about $240 million to acquire additional interests in the Moema Group mills in Brazil, adding to the 7.3 million shares the U.S.-based company agreed to buy last month for a 60 percent stake.

Read the whole Bloomberg story.

The venture may allow Imperial Sugar to step up its focus on product development, as well as strengthening its growing presence and trade in Mexico.

Click here for the full story.

Stir it in your coffee. Sweeten your tea with it. Sprinkle some on cake and cookies. Then, get on with the important things in life.

Sugar, however, is much more. Today, the domestic sugar business represents a huge industry, valued at more than $10 billion annually and employing an estimated 146,000 people across America.

Even with the industry’s size and stability, one question nags sugar business leaders: How to generate sustainable growth with something so ordinary?

Texas-based Imperial Sugar Company puts the question another way – and instead asks: How can you maximize the value of sugar to ensure total customer satisfaction?

This only makes sense since making and selling sugar—in any form – begins and ends with customers, and of course, their consumers.

To that end, Imperial Sugar Company President and CEO John Sheptor intends to maximize customer value and cultivate growth by:

• Partnering with customers to add value, differentiate Imperial, and solidify relationships.
• Enhancing Imperial’s sugar franchise profitability.
• Expanding participation in organic and natural foods and fair-trade channels.
• Growing presence and partnerships in Mexico, and maximizing the value of Imperial’s new cross-border joint venture.

Customers First and Always

Sheptor knows that growth in the sugar business is built on keeping customer commitments. And since Imperial Sugar is one of the largest and oldest refiners of pure cane sugar in America, with many relationships generations in the making, senior management and employees see building its business around customers as an imperative.

“Think of it as creating a clear line of sight,” Sheptor says. “We’ve completely aligned our retail, industrial and distributor sales to deliver quicker responses and tailored solutions to our customers. The result: better service to them and their consumers.”

Core or Essential Franchise Profitability

The second part of Imperial Sugar’s growth strategy – enhancing core or essential franchise profitability – calls for improved operational excellence to deliver higher quality products and services at lower cost.

This priority, however, was put to an unexpected and tragic test eight days after Sheptor took office, when an explosion and fire damaged Imperial Sugar’s Port Wentworth, Georgia, refinery and packaging facility. (The company also has production facilities in Gramercy, Louisiana; Ludlow, Kentucky; and at its headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas).

The refinery is in the process of reopening after more than a $200 million rebuild – with full capability expected to return this fall. The new refinery will redefine industry standards for worker and food safety, and production efficiencies.

Negotiations also are under way to form the Louisiana Sugar Refinery (LSR), a proposed joint venture with food giant Cargill, and a alliance of Bayou State sugar cane growers and millers. Together the partners will construct a state of the art sugar refinery in Louisiana.

The planned one-million ton capacity facility will share operational efficiencies with Imperial Sugar’s existing plant in Gramercy, cutting costs and boosting overall profitability.

With the completion of the Port Wentworth rebuild and the new LSR refinery, Imperial will own and participate in the two most modern and efficient sugar plants in the United States with new investments exceeding $300 million.

With new refining and packaging facilities the integration of Lean, Six Sigma and TPM manufacturing philosophies will be that more effective. Training and implementation of these excellence concepts continues.

Organic, Natural Foods Business

Increased profitability also is expected to come from Imperial Sugar’s third imperative – growth in the booming organic and natural food products market. The company increased its ownership to 50 percent in Wholesome Sweeteners, a joint venture with international food and agricultural products company Edward Billington & Sons (based in the UK).

Imperial Sugar expects to expand its already strong position in this increasingly popular sector. Featuring products like agave syrups and honey, Wholesome has grown at a compounded annual rate of 30 percent in the last seven years.

With demand for high-quality organic sweeteners climbing fast, there’s no reason to expect the growth of fair-trade certified products to slacken.

Since Imperial Sugar also has the option of acquiring the remaining 50 percent of Wholesome in 2010, the company is poised to see a potentially significant return from this targeted growth market.

Cross-Border Opportunities

A growing presence in Mexico completes the fourth and final strategic growth platform. With the start of free trade of sugar between the U.S. and Mexico in January 2008, Imperial Sugar has created a joint venture to capture cross-border opportunities.

Comercializadora Santos Imperial (CSI), is a collaboration between Imperial Sugar and Ingenios Santos S.A. de CV (Santos). It already has grown from three customers to now serve more than 110 industrial baking, confectionery and retail market customers – on both sides of the border.

In addition, CSI has signed a marketing agreement with the Machado group, a long-standing sugar family based in Mexico to represent two of their mills. The combined potential capacity available to CSI to sell from Santos and Machado production could reach 650,000 tons depending upon crop conditions or 12% of the Mexican industry.

“This is an unprecedented achievement in Imperial Sugar’s long history. It points to how our multi-dimensional strategy will drive growth,” says Sheptor.