Growers want another taxpayer bailout to keep mill afloat

Peak grower bodies want the state government to stump up more money to keep Mossman sugar mill afloat for the 2024 and 2025 season, with a Biotech company saying its project depends on the mill continuing to run.

Biotech start-up Helmont Energy is keen to create renewable fuel at the Mossman Mill – but the proposal depends on the mill continuing to operate.

Helmont Energy director Mark Jonker said the company had been in talks with Far Northern Milling for three years to develop a renewable fuel project.

“The key project hurdles centre around the future of the Mossman Sugar Mill and the ability for the project to obtain an offtake agreement for the renewable fuel product,” Mr Jonker said.

Canegrower peak bodies are calling on the state government not to abandon Mossman, with the mill going into administration on November 20 last year and this year’s cane crush in doubt.

The growers co-operative Far Northern Milling took over the Mosman Mill in 2019, when owner Mackay Sugar planned to shut it down. Its parent company Daintree Bio Precinct went into administration on November 20 last year. Picture: Supplied

Canegrowers Mossman representative Matt Watson said growers had spent $24m on this season’s crop and over time, had underpinned the mill’s operations to the tune of $7m.

The administrators, Worrells, will issue a report to creditors on February 21 with its recommendation on the future of the companies – comprising Daintree Bio Precinct, Far Northern Milling trading as Mossman Mill, Far Northern Infrastructure and Daintree Bio Enterprises.

A second meeting of creditors is set for February 29.

“The administrator is continuing to engage with a number of interested parties and government regarding the future of the mill,” a Worrells spokesman said.

But calling for a government bailout to keep the mill afloat is not new – the demise of the mill, then owned by Mackay Sugar, loomed in 2019.

Canegrowers Mossman representative Matt Watson said growers had been paying a $2 per tonne sustainability levy. Picture: Supplied

The federal government handed out $20m in November 2018, the state government handed out $22m the following month, and in July 2019, Daintree Bio Precinct bought the mill.

Mossman Mill, with about 140 growers around Mossman and on the Atherton Tablelands, is a relatively small operation with 380,000 tonnes of cane crushed in 2023, compared with Mackay on 5.5 million tonnes and MSF’s Mulgrave Mill at Gordonvale crushing more than 1 million tonnes.

Douglas Chamber of Commerce president Jeremy Blockey said the loss of the mill would impact Port Douglas as well as Mossman and everyone should be pushing for a resilience support package.

The company got a 45 day reprieve in the administration process due to the severe weather event that followed Cyclone Jasper in December.

Happy days: The federal government announces $20m for the ailing mill in late 2018 and then Douglas Shire Mayor Julia Leu, MP for Leichhardt Warren Entsch, Far Northern Milling director and then Canegrowers Tableland Chairperson Maryann Salvetti celebrate.

“The question I have is should the industry be propped up indefinitely? If it is not sustainable, then it is not sustainable – and it is a much bigger issue for the shire, it is not just about canegrowers, although of course a lot of people have invested a lot into the land and into their crops,” Mr Blockey said.

“If it is as dire as what I am picking up on, we need to cut to the chase.

“You can only imagine the federal and state governments looking at it and saying ‘don’t expect us to prop you up.

“What’s starting to emerge for me, it’s getting past the point of saving growers and it is much more a story of saving the economy or that part of the economy that relies on it, both the growers, and what they spend in the shire.”

Grower peak bodies are calling on the state government to support the mill to guarantee the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Mossman Mill has been operating since 1906.

The state government appears reticent to enter the fray.

Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said he acknowledged everyone’s concerns.

“But it’s now a matter for the administrator and creditors,” Mr Furner said.

State MP for Cook Cynthia Lui said “while I understand this is now a matter for the administrator, I hope it is resolved quickly in the interests of the workers, the growers and all those affected in my electorate of Cook”.

The Bio Precinct had one much-heralded tenant.

Coconutz Australia launched amid much fanfare in October 2020 with Far Northern Milling chairperson Mary Salvetti among its directors.

Sugarcane has been a critical industry for the Douglas Shire township of Mossman, but the mill is in financial strife again.

It was touted as an advanced manufacturing hub co-located on the mill site, processing up to 20,000 tonnes of cane annually to produce kecap manis, a sweet soy sauce.

Coconutz got a $250,000 Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority grant and in 2021, a $1m handout from the federal government.

It was wound up in May 2023.

Representatives of Far Northern Milling did not respond to a request for comment or questions on how previous government funding had been acquitted.

Originally published as Growers want another taxpayer bailout to keep mill afloat