As a northern country, the Canadian climate is not suited to growing sugar cane, which means that imports are required for domestic use. In its early years, Canada had been reliant on poor-quality raw sugar or expensive refined sugar imports, as per the Canadian Sugar Institute. The country’s first sugar refinery was established in 1818 (well before confederation), processing raw cane sugar imports into product for the domestic population. Although attempts to maintain Nova Scotia’s refining operations weren’t successful, a refinery was established in Montreal in 1854 to “[take] advantage of the city’s deep port to receive raw cane sugar shipments from the Caribbean.” A second refinery was built in Montreal in 1879 and, thanks to the Canadian Pacific railroad’s arrival on the west coast, a third refinery was built in Vancouver in 1890. The Vancouver location made sense – it was ideally located to receive raw cane sugar shipments from Pacific regions.
Today, Canada has three can sugar refineries and one sugar beet factory in its borders. The refineries are located in Toronto, Ontario (owned by Redpath Sugar Ltd.); Vancouver, British Columbia; and Montreal, Quebec (both owned by Lantic Inc.). The sugar beet factory is located in Taber, Alberta, and is also owned by Lantic.
Roughly 1.4 million tonnes of refined sugar are produced in Canada annually, with 92% refined from bulk imports of raw cane sugar (primarily from tropical regions in South and Central America); the balance is processed from domestically-grown sugar beets. Canada’s sugar industry directly employs roughly 1,000 full-time workers and 240 sugar beet growers, as well as field workers employed during spring planting and fall harvest. More than 85% of Canadian refined sugar production is used by industrial clients, who benefit from a reliable supply of high quality, low-priced sugar for domestic food processing.
While Lantic and Redpath historically represent 100% of Canada’s domestic refined sugar production, there have been companies opting to shake up the market. In 2014, Sucro Can entered the Canadian market with a liquid sugar refinery located in the Port of Hamilton, Ontario’s largest port. In 2019, Sucro Can added a granular refinery and storage facility to the site – the first successful refinery built in Canada since 1958. And just this year, Sucro Can announced its plan to open a new refinery in Hamilton in 2025. With a planned production capacity of 4,000 tonnes per day (or one million tonnes per year), it promises to be Canada’s largest sugar refining facility.
There are many in the country who welcome this disruption. Canada’s sugar industry runs at almost 100% capacity with just-in-time inventories, leaving customers vulnerable in cases of shortages and production disruptions. And that’s exactly what happened late last year when 138 workers at Rogers Sugar (owned by Lantic Inc.) went on strike in September, resulting in a sugar shortage in Western Canada – right during the holiday baking rush. Update: Unionized workers at Rogers Sugar’s Vancouver refinery have ratified a new five-year agreement.
Companies offering products and/or services in the sugar processing industry will want to watch sector news carefully, as they may find opportunities in the Canadian market.
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