Wet weather has played havoc with the beginning of Mossman Mill’s increased cane crush but managers are still impressed with the facility’s crush rate. 

Mackay Sugar, which manages Mossman Mill, budgets for about two weeks lost to wet weather stoppages per season.

However the mill has lost more than 10 days to rain stoppages already, only three weeks into the season. 

A higher than expected crop cut and controversies over shipping new cane down from the Tablelands are also proving to be thorns in the mill’s side.

The crop cut is currently coming in at 2 per cent higher than initial expectations, increasing the mill’s already vastly-expanded cane order for the year.

That order jumped from just over 500,000 tonnes to more than a million last year when a new cane supply aggreement was reached a large number of Tableland farmers. 

The increased Tableland cane order is being shipped to the Mossman Mill down the Rex Range through the towns of Mt Molloy and Julatten, drawing the ire of residents concerned about safety risks and lifestyle impacts.

Manager Haydn Slattery insisted that operations were on track despite initial setbacks. 

“The unseasonal wet start is impacting our start of season plan,” Mr Slattery said. 

“With less than 5 per cent of the crop cut, it’s unclear if the 2% above (expected crop cut) will continue for the remainder of the season - it’s more likely the crop will hold at estimate.

“We’ve had some issues with the integration of the new cane supply system but that wasn’t unexpected - Qube has been very responsive to addressing issues as they are detected.”

Mossman Mill processed 24,289 tonnes last week, bringing their crush to 45,348 tonnes so far this season. 

CCS levels are also on the increase with the mill averaging 11.32 for the week, and crush rates are at about 330 tonnes per hour, which Mr Slattery said management was ‘very pleased’ with.