MSF Sugar looks for buyer for Maryborough mill after deal ends

Growers respond to confirmation the search for a buyer for the Maryborough Sugar Mill is still on, after a $100 million investment deal fell through.

MSF Sugar is continuing its search for prospective buyers for the Maryborough Sugar Mill, with a spokesman for the business confirming its deal with Advanced Energies Group was still off. Photograph by Maggie Zemek

MSF Sugar is continuing its search for prospective buyers for the Maryborough Sugar Mill, with a spokesman for the business confirming its deal with Advanced Energies Group was still off.

In July 2022, it emerged Advanced Energies Group was negotiating to buy the factory from MSF Sugar.

A new future seemed to beckon for the mill after the organisation announced it intended to buy it and create a bioenergy hub, creating 80 new jobs.

At the time, Maryborough MP Bruce Saunders said the company was investing $100 million in the city.

But in January 2023, a leaked letter addressed to workers who were bringing the mill back online revealed the deal was in doubt.

At the time, AEG denied the deal was off and it is understood that a contingent did attend the sugar mill earlier this year.

However, this week MSF Sugar confirmed the mill was back on the market and the company was open to offers from prospective buyers.

Canegrowers in the region were forced to transport cane to the Isis Sugar Mill when the Maryborough factory was closed by MSF two years ago.

MSF Sugar is continuing its search for prospective buyers for the Maryborough Sugar Mill (pictured), with a spokesman for the business confirming its deal with Advanced Energies Group was still off.

Under the new ownership, the annual crush was set to return to Maryborough.

Cameron Waterson from Maryborough Canegrowers said while growers would like to see the Maryborough mill reopen, the current situation was not creating uncertainty.

A new three-year deal was struck with the Isis Sugar Mill earlier in 2023, and that meant growers had certainty around their future, he said.

“That desire for having a mill in your own backyard will remain,” he said.

“But it’s not a practical solution right now.”

Mr Waterson said there would be an increased focus on the logistics of transporting the cane to the Isis mill from the Fraser Coast and Sunshine Coast.

While a modest crush was expected this week, growers had also been buoyed by the best sugar prices some had seen in a lifetime, Mr Waterson said.

With prices locked in for this year and next year, “prices have not been seen this high in a long time”, he said.