Australia’s largest sugar producer closes factories due to workers’ strike

July 18, 2024

CANBERRA, July 18 (Reuters) – Australian sugar company Wilmar Sugar and Renewables will close its eight sugar factories for up to 16 hours due to a strike by union members on Thursday demanding better pay, the company said.

Wilmar, owned by Wilmar International (WLIL.SI) of Singaporeopens new tabsaid the closures would cost sugarcane farmers about $2.3 million in revenue. Another strike is planned for July 24, it said.

Wilmar is Australia’s largest sugar producer, producing over two million tonnes of sugar annually, valued at around one billion dollars, most of which is exported.

Industrial action that began in May disrupted Wilmar’s cane processing season, which ran from June to November, and threatened sugar production. However, strikes became less frequent from June onwards.

Thursday’s strike followed a successful appeal by unions against a state labor court order suspending industrial action, Wilmar said.

While the strike itself lasted only an hour, the safe shutdown and restart of the boilers and turbines took significantly longer, according to Wilmar.

Wilmar’s factories form the economic centre of the communities on the hot and humid north-east coast of the country, where the sugar industry is of great importance.

Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Jamie Freed

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Australia’s largest sugar producer closes factories due to workers’ strike

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