Welcome to the very first sugar mill tour on the Internet! We hope that you enjoy each page and are able to gather some good information on how a sugar mill works.
We have been written up in hundreds of reviews and we thank each publication and link to our tour. Since we were the first, many sites have picked us up. Much appreciated.
Look at this picture! At first glance it looks kind of simple; maybe a corridor passing by a café at an airport. If that's what you guessed, you got the part about the airport correct. The café, though, belongs to TAM Airlines (Transportes Aereos Regionais, S.A., aka Transportes Aereos Marilia) at Congonhas Airport (CGH). Take a closer look. That whole shelf is loaded with all kinds of goodies, Brazilian pastries, candies, finger foods. And all we had to do is ask for a choice of freshly squeezed orange juice, apple juice, coffee, water. You name it. This is TAM's departure lounge. No, we're not going to Europe. We're headed to Bauru.
So are you ready to see how sugar cane is turned into sugar?
Remember, this is only one of many ways used to make sugar. Sugar is made from many different vegetables. Perhaps you're
familiar with corn syrup as an additive in everything. Just glance at a label.
Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, while operating in conjunction with Starwing Incorporated of Switzerland, we made a trip to Bauru, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
At Bauru, we met our escort, Mr. Ari Luz. We drove southeast to Lencois Paulista, a town situated in the Brazilian Highlands about 150 miles from Sao Paulo. We believed that getting closer to the source would actually produce contacts for global sugar sales.
What we learned was that like any other commodity, there was a tight network surrounding the whole process, from growing the cane to creating sugar, to selling it on the global marketplace.
Nevertheless, as Brazil tries to work around restrictive tariffs by finding alternative markets, it is still steeped in syndicates and cooperatives which control selling. It is a tough business and one speckled with many want-to-be sugar traders.
Hey, come on! Let's go to what you came here for - the virtual tour of the Sugar Mill. Click here!