Australia’s sugar industry has been part of our story for nearly 200 years. From lush cane fields to the sweet staple in your pantry, sugar connects communities, economies, and everyday life. In northern New South Wales, Sunshine Sugar plays a unique role as the only 100% Australian-owned sugar milling and refining operation.
Australia’s Sweet Legacy
Sugarcane has been grown in Australia since the 1800s, with mills dotted along 2,100 kilometres of coastline from Queensland to NSW. The Harwood Mill, operated today by Sunshine Sugar, is the country’s oldest Australian owned working mill, first crushing cane in 1874. That legacy speaks to the resilience of the industry and the communities built around it.
From Cane Fields to Crystals
Across Australia, more than 30 million tonnes of sugarcane are harvested each year. In NSW, around 500 farming families grow cane that is milled locally at Harwood, Condong, and Broadwater. The process of crushing cane, extracting juice, purifying, boiling, and crystallising, turns a stalk of cane into golden sugar crystals. By-products such as molasses, filtered mud bagasse are also captured, with bagasse used as a renewable fuel source to power the mills.
Local and Proudly Australian
What makes northern NSW unique is that the full journey from paddock to pack happens locally. Through its partnership with the grower-owned NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative, Sunshine Sugar ensures that farming families share directly in the value created. The result is sugar that is not only grown and milled here, but also refined and packaged locally, something no other Australian producer can claim.
Sustainability for the Future
Sustainability is front and centre for the industry. Sunshine Sugar is internationally certified sustainable from paddock to pack and was the first refinery in the world to achieve Bonsucro certification, recognising its commitment to environmental and social responsibility.From clean farming practices to green powering of the mills, the focus is on ensuring sugar has a positive future, for people and the planet.
From Industry to Kitchen
After refining, Sunshine Sugar either makes its way to food and beverage manufacturers across Australia or is packaged and distributed through retailers big and small. Sunshine Sugar’s range includes white, caster, and raw sugar, as well as Low GI sugar, syrups, and molasses. Whether you’re baking, sweetening, or experimenting with recipes, our sugar has travelled a long but local journey from cane fields to kitchen.
The story of sugar in Australia is one of heritage, community, and innovation. And in northern NSW, Sunshine Sugar continues to carry that story forward, supporting local families, creating regional jobs, and delivering quality sugar that’s proudly Australian-made.
From paddock to pantry-explore the full sugar range here