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Transport in the Sugar Industry
Transport is an important factor in the sugar cane and beet industries as it represents a major cost. Most of the sugar from beet is used in the country where it is grown, for example Britain. However countries such as Mauritius export a lot of the raw sugar they produce. In fact, Britain imports half of its sugar requirements from cane producing countries.
In the beet sugar industry, lorries bring the harvested sugar beet directly to the sugar factories for processing.
Lorry arriving at the beet sugar factory
Raw cane sugar crystals are taken all over the world in huge ocean-going bulk carriers. On arrival, the sugar is transferred straight from the ships to the refineries that are usually situated next to the ports.
Thames Refinery in East London (the world's largest refinery), handles almost one million tonnes of sugar per year
Both cane and beet sugar, once refined, is taken from the factories by lorry to wholesalers, supermarkets and food and drink manufacturers all over the country. |