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QSL Marketing – Another challenging season
n By Guy Cowan – Chairman’s Report, QSL Annual Report
SECTION 7 MILLING AND MARKETING
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THE 2018–19 financial year and the 2018 Season was another challenging one for our industry, with a significant global surplus and 10-year price lows.
In Queensland, the make-up of the state’s sugar milling sector saw significant transformation during the past year, with a change in ownership for the Mossman and Mackay mills.
In a move that bucked the trend of the past decade, Mossman Mill returned to the hands of its growers, with the newly created Far Northern Milling Pty Ltd taking ownership of the former Mackay Sugar Ltd mill and working to forge a new supply agreement with QSL.
Mackay Sugar Ltd and its remaining Mackayregion mills subsequently passed into majority control of German sugar producer Nordzucker, having transitioned to a QSL On-Supply Agreement and Marketing Choice for supplying growers just prior to the historic sale vote.
ABOUT QSL
QSL is a public company limited by guarantee and incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001. It is are a pass-through organisation which operates on a costrecovery basis, returning all net value created through its activities to Queensland cane growers and sugar millers who choose to use our services.
Driven by the best interests of our members and the long-term prosperity of the Queensland sugar industry rather than corporate profits or shareholder dividends, QSL is a registered charitable institution and as such, exempt from income and payroll taxes.
And as we go to print, further international investment in our milling sector looks likely, with the Pakistan-based Almoiz Group seeking to acquire majority ownership in Isis Central Sugar Mill Co Ltd.
We welcome the ongoing investment in our industry and look forward to working with all of these new stakeholders as they embrace their new Queensland ventures.
I am pleased to advise that during the reporting period QSL remained the largest exporter of Australian sugar, and the single largest supplier of Australian product for South Korean refiners, building on a 40-year relationship with these valuable customers.
Other key markets for the year included Japan and Indonesia, as well as lucrative quota sales to the United States.
Once again, our long-standing relationships with blue-chip refiners in Asia have been the mainstay of our sales program, and I thank these valued customers for their ongoing business and support.
On the Operations front, we entered the second year of our strategic Operating Agreement with bulk sugar terminal owners Sugar Terminals Limited (STL) and continue to work closely with them to keep costs low and safely optimise the utilisation of these important industry assets, with a particular focus on diversifying activity through the development of non-sugar opportunities.
QSL has emerged from a period of significant uncertainty in the industry, with the cloud of substantial litigation now lifted, to emerge as a key player, both in providing marketing options to growers and millers, and as an effective operator of all sugar terminals.
Our role in defending and enhancing the Australian sugar brand is crucial to the future of our industry. Whether you are a terminal owner, miller, grower or one of our international refining customers, QSL is focused on delivering a service that not only exceeds your expectations, but expands your opportunities.
During the past year we have continued to refine and increase our offering on all fronts, with new products, services, initiatives and platforms across all divisions. It is innovations such as these that our industry must constantly seek and leverage to stay competitive in a global market. Tough times – whether they
