– The Louisiana Sugar Cane Cooperative factory just north of St. Martinville, is processing the cane harvest at about the same rate as it was at this time last year, La-SuCa Ag Division Manager John Hebert said on Monday, and has boosted its sugar yield per ton to a rate about where the mill would like it to be.
LaSuCa began taking in sugar cane for grinding on Sept. 16 with the Theoretical Recoverable Sugar value from the core sampler coming in slightly lower than expected at 200 pounds per ton on a daily basis.
“We started off pretty low but sugar levels have really come up the last couple of weeks, to the point that year-todate comparison to last year we’re a little higher per ton than we were last year at this time,” Hebert said. “So we’re pretty happy with where things are right now. Sugar per ton has really come a long way since the start of grinding.”
Hebert said that with days getting shorter and temperatures getting cooler, the crop is maturing the way it should.
Dry conditions also help the process.
Cane
“Essentially the crop is stressing and it’s getting ready to shut down, so it’s converting its simple sugars into sucrose, a complex carbohydrate that stores better in the plant,” Hebert said. “And it’s preparing itself for vegetative reproduction.”
The factory has been processing a little over 21,000 tons per day on average the past few weeks, he said, which is producing about 5.5 million tons of sugar per day being produced.
Those numbers are comparable to last year at the same time.
“According to the current grower projections, we’re about 58 percent complete,” Hebert said of the season.
LaSuCa takes in cane over a nine-parish area. The grinding season is expected to conclude around the end of this year or the start of the new year.
The last couple of weeks have seen the numbers improve to around 220 pounds of sugar per ton TRS.
“We like what we’re seeing right now,” Hebert said. “As far as the factory is concerned, the weather conditions don’t affect us tremendously. I think our cane supply can keep up with the processing rate, even if we do start getting some rain. But if this weather holds up a little longer, that would be great. It just makes it easier on everybody.
“And all we process is cane (when weather remains dry). You get a lot less soil and leafy material in the factory when it’s dry.”
