How to open a mini-factory for the production of sugar. Sugar business: granulated sugar production. Technology and equipment for sugar production Marketing review of the sugar market

The food industry is always the most resistant to competitive changes in the market, since the demand for products in this area is stable. There are several highly profitable industries. One of them is the production of granulated sugar. It can be considered a promising and profitable type of business.

About sugar production

Sugar production is a fairly large branch of the food industry. It has about 320 enterprises. They specialize in the production of products, which are divided into granulated sugar and refined sugar.

As a rule, sugar factories are located near sugar beet planting sites and operate seasonally. The production of granulated sugar at modern enterprises is quite large-scale. Thus, large and well-equipped plants can process up to 6 thousand tons of beets.

Refined sugar production involves the production of lump refined sugar or refined granulated sugar. Such factories are located in large cities and can operate all year round.

Features of sugar

Both refined sugar and granulated sugar are high-quality food products that are characterized by a sweet taste. In addition, it is almost pure sucrose. It can be easily and completely absorbed by the body, allowing you to quickly restore lost energy.

It is a disaccharide that, under the influence of enzymes, breaks down into glucose and fructose. In addition, sucrose easily dissolves in water and forms supersaturated solutions. As the temperature increases, its solubility increases.

Sucrose can be in a crystalline or amorphous state. If we talk about the chemical structure, then sugar is a weak polybasic acid, which, when reacted with alkali or alkaline earth metals, produces compounds called “sugarates”.

It should be noted that thanks to fructose, invert sugar is hygroscopic, therefore it slows down the hardening of bread, prevents the process of jam sugaring, and also prevents marshmallows, marmalade, fudge or other confectionery products from drying out.

Sugar market analysis

The production of granulated sugar always remains promising, since sugar has been and will remain an essential commodity. It is always in stable demand, which does not go away.

It should be noted that the sugar business is characterized by rapid growth. This is due to the reconstruction of factories and an increase in their production capabilities. In addition, one can notice a positive trend in sugar consumption by the population.

So, if you provide statistical data, then a person consumes approximately 20 kg of this product per year, not counting the amount that is included in other delicacies. And although doctors do not recommend consuming a lot of sweets, believing that this negatively affects health, the overall functioning of the body and can lead to diabetes, the demand for sugar does not decrease. That is why a high-quality business plan for a sugar factory is a good opportunity to organize well-thought-out production and make a good profit.

Features of drawing up a business plan for a sugar factory

From a technological point of view, the production of granulated sugar is a complex and labor-intensive business that requires expensive equipment, significant financial costs, and a large number of professional workers. In order to competently enter the sugar industry and successfully implement it, you need to clearly understand all the features of this business. This is why they draw up a business plan for a sugar factory.

This is an extremely important document that can determine the future of the enterprise. It is with the help of it that the profitability of the plant is determined, its ability to receive investment and be in demand, as well as the level to which it will be possible to increase production. Errors in calculations are unacceptable, since opening such an enterprise requires significant investments.

The volume of risks depends on the cost of equipment, rental of premises that will be used as warehouses, as well as on the costs of launching the production itself. What matters is the purchase of the necessary raw materials, obtaining various permits, as well as wages.

Key points in a sugar factory business plan

To open a new sugar production, you need to make calculations depending on the market situation and the specifics of the work process. It should be noted that the business plan is drawn up for at least 3 years and is constantly updated. It is recommended to collect the following information:

General information about the project and the sugar market. It is necessary to determine the relevance and prospects of opening a plant. Analysis of the market, demand and competitive environment, assumption of profitability are also of great importance.
Defining mission and strategy. For production to be successful, a mission should be formulated, which is the social idea of the future company, as well as a strategy - an action plan that will help achieve the goals.
Finding out the list of all necessary documents.
Financial part. All expenses and planned profits should be determined.
Technological line for sugar production.
Sales strategy for finished products.
Personnel policy.

Raw materials for sugar business

The following raw materials are used to make sugar:

sugar cane, which is most actively used by enterprises in Brazil, Cuba and India;
sugar beets - beet sugar production is widespread in the USA, Russia, Germany and France;
palm sap - used in Southeast Asia;
starchy rice - malt sugar produced in Japan;
sorghum stalks - sugar from this raw material is made in China; It should be noted that it has no competitive advantages when compared with beet or cane.

If you indicate the types of sugar by production method, then raw sugar is distinguished. These are individual crystals consisting of sucrose. There is also powdered sugar. These are carefully ground sugar crystals. As a rule, powdered sugar is used in the confectionery industry. The main type can be called granulated sugar. It is sucrose crystals, the dimensions of which are approximately 2.5 mm. If a product is made from a very pure substance, then we talk about refined sugar.

Features of beet roots

Sugar beets are an important component in sugar production. This is a biennial plant that is drought tolerant. In the first year, root crops with a powerful root system are grown. The next year, new rosettes of leaves appear, as well as stems with flowers and seeds.

It should be noted that only root crops of the first year of development are used in sugar production. They are fleshy and highly compacted areas of the root system and have a cylindrical shape. The weight of the root crop is on average 200 grams. Its pulp consists of microscopic cells that perform various functions. The outer tissue is protective, called periderm. The main tissue is parenchyma, which accumulates beet juice in its cells. It is rich in sucrose and other substances in dissolved form.

It should be noted the structural feature of beet parenchymal cells. They have a shell that consists of fiber. Its walls have semi-permeable protoplasm with proteins and surround a vacuole containing beet juice. They do not allow dissolved substances to pass out of it, therefore, in order to extract sugar from beet cells, the protoplasm must be heated to a temperature at which its proteins coagulate.

Features of the chemical composition of beets

The quality and quantity of products obtained from special processing of sugar beets depends on its chemical composition. The ratio of the various components, in turn, depends on the seeds used for cultivation, as well as on climatic conditions.

Generally speaking, sugar beets contain 75% water, the rest being dry matter. If we recalculate for 75 kg of water, then 3 kg are retained by colloids, and 72 kg act as a solvent with 17.5 kg of sucrose and 2.5 kg of non-sugar compounds. There is an important indicator - the purity of beet juice. This is the percentage of sucrose content and the amount of dry matter.

As a rule, the first number (this indicator is sometimes also called sugar content) ranges from 15-22%. This means that the average sucrose content in beets is 17.5%.

If you indicate the content of dry substances in the finished product, then their share in granulated sugar is 99.75%, and in refined sugar it is even higher - 99.9%.

Production stages

The production of granulated sugar is a unique process, which is characterized by the following stages or stages:

supply of sugar beets, their cleaning from various impurities;
obtaining sugar chips and diffuse juice from it;
purification of the resulting liquid;
thickening juice by evaporation;
boiling massecuite and obtaining sugar in the form of small crystals;
drying and cooling of granulated sugar with its subsequent storage.

Thus, the process of producing sugar from beets includes washing and peeling them, weighing them and cutting them into chips, which are placed in a special diffuser. Here, sugar is extracted from plant matter using hot water. In this case, diffusion juice with sucrose, as well as pulp, is obtained. These are beet chips after the extraction stage, which can be used to produce animal feed. Next, there are stages that allow you to purify the diffusion juice and obtain sugar crystals.

How are sugar crystals obtained?

After the diffusion juice is obtained, it is mixed with lime in a saturator. Next, the resulting solution is heated and carbon dioxide is passed through it.

As a result, filtration takes place, which produces “purified” juice. Sometimes ion exchange resins are used at this stage.

Then this “purified” juice is evaporated, obtaining a syrup containing 65% sugar, and crystallization is also carried out in special vacuum devices at 75 ° C. In this case, a massecuite of the first crystallization is obtained.

It is a mixture of sucrose and molasses that goes into a mixer, massecuite distributor and centrifuge. The sugar crystals that remain in the latter device are bleached and acted upon with steam, resulting in the usual crystalline sugar.

It should be noted that the production of sugar from cane is characterized by a similar technological process. The difference is the absence of an extraction stage (the cane is simply squeezed out), as well as the method of purifying the resulting juice (it is treated with significantly less lime).

Equipment for the production of sugar from beets

To establish sugar production, you need to purchase a set of specialized equipment. Using it, you can prepare beets for the further technological process.

This set of equipment includes:

sugar lifting plant;
hydraulic conveyor;
sand, tops and stone trap;
water separator;
beet washing machine.

When specifying sugar production equipment, the main line of machines includes the following:

conveyor equipped with a magnetic separator;
beet cutter;
scales;
diffuse installation;
screw press;
drying for pulp.

In addition, filters, heating devices, saturators and sulfinators, as well as sedimentation tanks and defecation apparatus are used in the production of sugar. The equipment that is considered the most energy-intensive is a vacuum apparatus, centrifuges and evaporation units with concentrators. If maximum automation of production is required, then you should purchase a vibrating container, a vibrating sieve, and a cooling and drying unit.

Features of purchasing equipment for the sugar business

Sugar production equipment can be purchased in several ways. You can carry out an independent assembly from different machines (including non-specialized ones), buy a line of devices or an entire plant that has already been in use, purchase a ready-made sugar production business or completely new devices. The first option is the most economical, but can only be used by people who are perfectly versed in technology.

A significant advantage of purchasing an inactive sugar factory is the developed infrastructure and developed network of suppliers. But you should also remember a serious disadvantage - it may have worn-out equipment and be simply unsuitable for profitable production.

If you buy a new ready-made sugar factory, you should carefully weigh everything, because the costs are quite large. Attention should be paid to the quality of the equipment, since the previous owner could have greatly depreciated it even over several years of operation. For an optimal assessment of the technical condition of machines, it is better to consult a specialist.

Opening a sugar factory on your own is difficult due to too high material costs.

Features of the organization of sugar production

The best option is to organize a business that involves setting up production with a focus on a small city or even a separate urban region.

At the same time, a mini-factory for the production of sugar from beets can become an integral part of a profitable business. Subsequently, it can be expanded, reaching a higher level and increasing production and sales volumes.

It should be noted that almost all sugar production is automated, if you do not take into account the harvesting and primary processing of root crops. That is why the issue of recruiting staff is not a priority.

The most important thing in this matter is high-quality equipment, which would be characterized by durability and reliability, as well as a high level of production capabilities.

In addition, it must be remembered that when planning a sugar factory, one should take into account not only investments and income from the sale of main products, but also profit from the sale of waste generated during the production process.

If you take into account all the features of the sugar business, good earnings are guaranteed.

Sugar is a unique product. With his participation, not only confectionery and alcoholic products are made, but also pharmaceuticals, plastics and much more. Not to mention the fact that a significant share of it is bought at retail. Therefore, sugar production is a necessary and in-demand business.

Market analysis

The main advantage of the sugar business is that sales of the product do not have seasonal fluctuations. The production itself is increasing volumes every year. But the market is still far from saturation, because the level of product consumption is also growing. On average, one person eats about 20 kg of it per year. The world leader in sugar production is the United States, and Russia ranks second. This fact suggests that the country has excellent conditions for implementing such a business.

Pros and cons of business

As with any other production, the sugar business has its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage of this type of business is the strong dependence on raw materials, or more precisely, on the places where they can be obtained. In the Russian Federation, sugar is most often made from sugar beets. And it grows mainly in the Southern, Volga and Central districts. If there is a desire to open a plant in other regions, raw materials must be imported, which increases production costs.

More than 90% of the product in Russia is made from imported raw materials. Product prices are relatively high. Therefore, if you organize production using local raw materials, you can significantly benefit from the difference in selling prices.

Another advantage of the product is that it is single-component. That is, only one type of raw material is needed for its production. The consumption of the product is high, and the costs of organizing the plant are relatively small.

Business organization from the formal side

First of all, the business plan of a sugar factory must provide for the registration of a legal entity. The LLC organizational form is much more preferable than an individual entrepreneur, since it will allow you to work on a large scale, collaborating with large organizations.

The following necessary formalities are to bring the production premises into compliance with the requirements of the fire inspection, SES and other authorities. As a rule, this takes a lot of time, effort and money. It is better to check specific standards and requirements locally, as they may differ slightly from region to region.

The next important point that a sugar factory business plan must take into account is that the final product must comply with special GOSTs. Therefore, before starting production, it is necessary to study the requirements of GOSTs:

Sugar beet. Technical specifications (R 52647-2006);
Sugar beet. Test methods (R 53036-2008);
Method for determination of sucrose (12571-86);
Sugar production (R 52678-2006).

Types of products produced

Sugar can be prepared in a variety of ways to produce a variety of products. The following types are distinguished:

Refined sugar is highly purified sucrose, which is divided into pieces, usually cubes.
Sand is sucrose, which has the form of crystals measuring 0.5-2.5 mm.
Powder – crushed sucrose crystals.
Raw - individual uncrushed crystals of sucrose.

Raw materials for making the product

In the CIS, sugar was traditionally produced from sugar beets. However, today these raw materials have been replaced by imported offers. Therefore, in addition to beets, which are also grown in Germany, France and the USA, the following raw materials are used:

Bread sorghum (stems). Its main producing country is China. But the product made from it differs little in its characteristics from sugar from beets or cane.
Millet or starchy rice. Malt sugar is made from it. The main producer of such raw materials is Japan.
Palm sap. It is mined in the countries of Southeast Asia.
Sugar cane. Cultivated mainly by enterprises in Cuba, India, and Brazil.

Sugar production technology

Before opening a mini-factory for the production of sugar, you need to study the technology of its production. This will give you an understanding of what equipment you need to purchase for sugar production. As an example, let’s take beet production, which goes through the following main stages:

Extraction. To do this, the raw materials are washed well, then cleaned, the required amount is measured out and put into chips. After chopping the beets, the chips are loaded into the diffuser. There, sugar is extracted from this mass using hot water and diffuse juice is obtained. This is not the final product yet, but it contains 15% sucrose. In addition to this, there are also beet shavings and pulp.
Diffuse juice purification. To do this, it is mixed with lime milk and put through special purification steps.
Removing excess water through evaporation. At the end of this stage, syrup remains, a little more than half of the volume of which is sugar.
Crystallization. The sugar production technology is completed by passing the syrup through centrifuges, massecuite distributors, and vacuum devices. Only after this does crystallized sugar remain at the output.

Production equipment

Each stage of production requires its own set of equipment. So, to prepare beets for processing you need the following set of installations:

beet washing machines;
stone traps;
water separator;
top traps;
sand traps;
hydraulic conveyor;
beet lifting plant.

The main production line consists of:

dryer for pulp;
screw press;
diffusion plants;
scales;
beet cutters;
conveyor with a magnetic separator.

To clear the juice you need to purchase:

settling tanks;
sulfitators,
saturators,
filters with heating devices,
defecation apparatus.

The last stage of production goes through the following installations:

evaporation unit with concentrator;
centrifuges;
vacuum devices;
drying and cooling unit;
vibrating sieve;
vibrating conveyor.

Room

The premises for small production must meet all the requirements of food industry premises. The area is selected based on the dimensions of the installations. In addition to the production workshop, the production must have a dry and well-ventilated warehouse for storing products, because sugar absorbs any flavors well.

Putting production into operation

There are several ways to organize and run a plant.

Purchase a ready-made mini-plant. However, then it is very important to know the date of opening and commissioning of the plant. If this happened a long time ago, the equipment will be unusable, even if it is in working condition. It is best to invite a specialist to evaluate it. Such an enterprise can cost up to two million dollars. If the enterprise opened after 2000, its price will increase to five million or more.
Organization of the plant from scratch. In such situations, a new production line must be purchased. The price of such equipment depends on its production capacity:

equipment for 10 tons per day – 10-20 thousand dollars;
equipment for 15 tons every day - 100 thousand dollars;
equipment for 50 tons per day – 200 thousand dollars.

Special production conditions

The processing of beets into sugar occurs during the so-called campaign, which lasts 3-4 months per year - when the raw materials are ripe. All this time, the equipment works constantly, without breaks, and the staff works in shifts. When the beet processing campaign ends, the equipment must be checked and, if necessary, repairs made.

But the production itself is considered safe, since the work process does not emit dust, toxic gases, etc. The only problem may be high noise when the units operate.

Expansion of production

Most often, young production is focused on the production of granulated sugar, since this is the most popular type of product. Once production is established, the range can be expanded.

Rafinated sugar

First of all, refined sugar production is added to the main line. A Chinese installation with a capacity of 150-200 kg per shift costs approximately 2 million rubles, a Turkish one – up to 7 million rubles. You also need to purchase automatic packaging equipment, which costs at least another 600 thousand rubles.

This sugar can be made in two types:

pressed: granulated sugar is processed in a centrifuge, pressed, dried and then chopped into cubes of a given size;
cast: a mass of sugar is loaded into special molds and left until it hardens, after which it is poured several times with pure sugar and washed. This removes the molasses. After this, the pieces are taken out of the molds, dried and cut into cubes of the required parameters.

Cane sugar

Its production is similar to the production of a beet product with some differences:

The extraction stage is replaced by squeezing the soaked stems on special rollers. This allows you to extract 90% of the sucrose contained in the cane. The juice goes into the pulp trap, then is processed on juice meters.
Juice purification stage. It is immediately treated with lime without preliminary processing steps, as is the case with beet production.

Molasses and pulp

After purifying the diffuse juice, molasses and pulp remain. The first is excellent feed silage, and the second is feed molasses. They are usually exchanged by barter for raw materials from the agricultural producer. But molasses itself is in demand by a certain category of buyers.

In addition, you can earn extra money by producing candice sugar - very large transparent crystals that are made using special equipment. There are other areas of production that can be established in addition to the production of granulated sugar.

Payback calculation

As practice shows, if you initially properly organize the supply of raw materials and the sale of finished products, the plant can pay for itself in just six months, that is, in one season. But the cost of equipment greatly influences the timing. Equipment from a European manufacturer with a capacity of 20 tons per day will cost at least 90 thousand euros. If you purchase equipment with a capacity of 100 tons per day, you need to allocate about 270 thousand euros for it. If you decide to purchase a mini-plant with a capacity of 12 tons per day, then the basic equipment will cost you 18-20 thousand dollars.

Don’t forget that to conquer the market you need to be able to present your product beautifully. It is necessary not only to develop your own brand, but also to organize the production of clear and beautiful packaging for the product.

Sugar beet - the basis of sugar

Sugar is an ingredient that is widely used in foods, alcoholic beverages, bakery and confectionery products. Sugar products are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, as well as in the production of plastic products. Therefore, in the manufacture of this product, a sugar production line is a sought-after and profitable equipment that has excellent prospects for business development.

Sugar is an essential product that is in demand and is not subject to recessions. Since 2010, sugar production in the Russian Federation has been growing steadily. This is explained by the restoration of the main factories and the increase in their productivity. The current indicator is 18.94 kg for one year. On average, one resident of the Russian Federation eats approximately 22 kg of sugar annually, not taking into account the products that are included in other purchased products.

These raw materials can be used to manufacture a sugar production line:

Cane - for cheap sugar

cane from sugar (cane sugar is produced at enterprises in India, Cuba and Brazil);
sugar beets (beet sugar is produced at enterprises in the USA, Russia, Germany and France);
palm juice (palm sugar is produced in Southeast Asian countries);
millet or starchy rice (malt sugar is produced in Japan);
stalk of bread sorghum (sorghum sugar is made by the people of China).

According to the production method, there are 4 types of sugar:

Raw sugar. It is a separate layer of crystals that consist of sucrose.
Powdered sugar. It is a carefully ground crystal of sugar. This type is widely used in the production of confectionery and bakery products;
Granulated sugar. Products that are sucrose, the crystal size of which is 0.6–2.6 mm.
Rafinated sugar. High frequency sucrose products.

Sugar production diagram

Equipment

Sugar production lines are installed with special equipment for preparing beets for technological stages.

The equipment line includes:

beet lifting unit;
hydraulic conveyors;
sand trap;
top trap;
water separators;
stone trap;
beet washing machine.

The main sugar production line includes the following equipment:

conveyor with magnetic separators;
beet cutter;
scales;
diffusion plant;
screw presses;
pulp dryer.

The second set of technology includes :

The most energy-intensive equipment:

apparatus vacuums;
centrifuge;
evaporation units with a concentrator.

The automatic line is completed with a complete set of equipment, which includes:

vibrating conveyors;
vibrating sieve;
drying and cooling unit.

To organize sugar production, you need to purchase an existing plant or open a new one.

Mini sugar production plant Entrepreneurs who are just starting their journey in the sugar business can choose two ways to organize a business:

Buy a mini-factory for the production of sugar. When purchasing a plant, it is necessary to clarify the date when the plant was put into use. If it has already been in use for a long time, then the technique may be unsuitable. The price of the old plant is approximately $2 million. The cost of the plant, which was put into use after 2000, will be more than $5 million.
A line for the production of sugar from sugar beets may involve the opening of a new plant and the acquisition of a sugar production line.

Currently the following prices are active for sugar production lines:

a line with a capacity of 10 tons per day costs $11–21 thousand;
a sugar production line, the price of which is approximately $110 thousand, and has a capacity of 16 tons of sugar per day;
a line with a capacity of 55 tons of products per day costs approximately $230 thousand.

To open a sugar production plant, it is necessary to take into account not only the size of the initial investment, income from management activities, but also income from the sale of waste from the enterprise.

After all, sugar production involves the extraction of waste: molasses and pulp. These two products can be used as a barter method and sold by raw material suppliers. During the production of a completed product, molasses is also extracted, which can also be sold.

Sugar from sugar beets

The technological process for producing sugar from beets includes the following steps:

Extraction

The beets are prepared: they are washed and cleaned of foreign mixtures, weighed, and cut into chips. The chips are then fed into diffusers where the sugar crystals are extracted from the beet plant mixture using hot water. Finally, the diffusion juice is extracted, which contains sucrose (11–16%) and pulp (beet chips from which the juice is obtained). Waste from sugar production is used to make animal feed.

Cleaning

The diffusion juice is mixed with lime milk, the elements are mixed in a saturator. Next, a precipitate of heavy impurities is released from the mixture and carbon dioxide is passed through the hot solution. Finally, this solution is filtered and purified juice is obtained. In most plants, filtration is carried out through an ion exchange resin.

Evaporation

At this stage, the chemical composition of the resulting juice is changed. As a result, the syrup is treated with sulfur dioxide and filtered using a mechanical filter. Finally, a syrup is obtained that contains 56–66% sugar.

Crystallization

Crystallization occurs in vacuum apparatus at a temperature of 78° C.

After 3 hours, a special product is obtained, which is called massecuite of the first crystallization. Massecuite is a mixture of molasses and sucrose crystals. Then, the product enters the mixer, and then into the massecuite distributor and centrifuge. Crystalline sugar is stored in centrifuges, bleached, and steamed. Finally, crystalline sugar is obtained.

Rafinated sugar

The technology for making refined sugar is very simple. To produce the product, you must have granulated cane or beet sugar. For Russian organizations, it is more cost-effective and beneficial to use granulated beet sugar as a source material.

The refined sugar production line carries out 2 methods of producing refined sugar:

Pressed method. It begins with the processing of sugar syrups in centrifuges. Next, pressing occurs, and then drying of the finished product. As a result, the pressed sugar is divided into cubes of the required sizes.
Cast method. A labor-intensive and materially expensive process. The casting method involves moving the sugar mixture into a specialized mold in which it hardens. Next, the mixture is filled with sugar, which contains no impurities. Washing occurs several times. Then the lump sugar, which has already been cleared of molasses, is dried and removed from the mold. As a result, the mixture is divided into cubes.

Granulated sugar

Granulated sugar dissolves even in cold water

Granulated sugar dissolves well in water. At high temperatures its solubility increases. In solution, granulated sugar is a powerful dehydrator. It easily forms into a supersaturated solution, the crystallization of which begins only when a crystallization center exists. The speed of this process is temperature, solution viscosity and saturation coefficient.

The initial raw materials for producing granulated sugar are sugar cane and sugar beets. Considering the high yield of cane sugar compared to sugar beets, one hectare of sugar beet yields twice as much product. However, the sucrose content in cane stalk is much less than in beets.
Granulated sugar production lines contain a set of equipment for preparing beets for production, which consists of:

beet lifting machine;
hydraulic conveyor;
sand trap;
top trap;
stone trap;
water separator;
beet washing machine.

The granulated sugar production line, the leading complex of which is the conveyor, consists of the following equipment:

Granulated sugar drying belt

conveyor with magnetic separators;
beet cutter;
scales;
diffusion plant;
screw press;
pulp dryer.

The following set of equipment appears to be:

filter with heating device;
main and preliminary defecation apparatus;
saturator;
settling tank;
sulfitator;
filter.

The most energy-intensive components of the line are: evaporation units with concentrators, a vacuum apparatus, a stirrer and a centrifuge.

The final configuration of the line equipment includes:

vibrating conveyor;
cooling and drying unit;
vibrating sieve

Sugar beets are transferred to the mini-factory from a pine or burchat field. The beets are transported to the hydraulic conveyor to the beet pump and rise to the top up to 22m. Subsequently, its movement occurs by gravity in order to carry out various operations in the technological process. The length of the hydraulic conveyor is set in the following sequence:

straw-bottling trap;
stone trap;
water separators.

This is a technological technique. It is designed to separate heavy (stone, sand) from light (tops, straw) additives. And also to separate the conveyor and washing water. To enhance the process of collecting tops and straw, oxygen is supplied to the recess. Granulated sugar passes through the water separator into washing machines.

Video: Sugar production

The characteristics of an exchange commodity are its homogeneity and the presence of many buyers and sellers. But sugar is also a raw material product, which means that its price fluctuations are as high as, for example, oil. It is a shelf-stable product. In addition, this is an almost final consumer product, ready for retail packaging. And this is its uniqueness, because no other commodity is such a finished product.

STORAGE FEATURES
The quality of granulated sugar is determined by GOST 21-94, refined pressed sugar - by GOST 22-94. The specificity of storing this product is that it is not stored in heated warehouses and, relatively speaking, not stored on the banks of a river, since sugar is hygroscopic. In winter, it will clump in heated warehouses. This is due to temperature differences: the accumulated moisture, when cooled, falls on the inner walls of the bags in the form of condensation, which leads to the pressing of sugar, especially if it lies in multi-row clumps. Bags of sugar that sit for many years are called “candy” because they can be carried, as they say, under the arm.
10-12 years ago there was a “revolution” in the field of packaging: polypropylene bags appeared. Nowadays jute bags are practically not used; sugar is stored in a double polypropylene bag with a polyethylene (cellophane) liner.
Sugar differs favorably from other food products stored in bags in that rats do not eat it. Sugar is 99.9% sucrose. For these animals, this carbohydrate is of no interest as a food product.
Large wholesalers store sugar in large hangars, filling them completely and leaving no room even for aisles. Up to 25 bags can be stacked in height. Another storage method is used in grocery warehouses where there are several items in stock. The car is unloaded onto pallets, forming a cube no more than 12 rows high. This is done for ease of storage and compliance with ventilation standards so that sugar is not stored on the floor. Manufacturing plants do not ship sugar on pallets in order to save space in cars or cars.
Sugar can be stored for a very long time. In certificates, its shelf life is limited to one year. But in fact, it can lie for three years completely without problems, especially if it meets all GOST requirements (primarily in terms of humidity). And even if it gets crumpled, it won’t cause much harm to the product. As a last resort, sugar can be dissolved in food production, since it is often in demand in the form of syrup.
As a rule, sugar is not weighed during loading and unloading, because wholesalers work with regular suppliers and know what to expect from them. Quality analysis can be carried out only if the sugar comes, for example, frankly yellow. The quality and weight of this product are primarily of concern to food and confectionery manufacturers. By weighing a loaded and empty vehicle, they can calculate the internal shortage.

STORAGE COST
Compared to many other bagged goods, sugar is a fairly capital-intensive product, for which the costs of paying interest on a loan are quite significant (trading operations are financed, as a rule, with borrowed money).
Transport and storage costs for sugar are quite significant. It is several times more expensive to store than, say, chocolate. Transport and storage costs for operations with the latter product amount to fractions of a percent of its cost, and for sugar - more than 2%. Moreover, these are the costs only for transshipment of goods from the wagon to the warehouse and then to the buyer’s transport. Naturally, if sugar is stored for six months, the costs will increase. Other finished products, as a rule, are more expensive, and therefore the share of transportation costs in the structure of their cost is not so significant.

BEET AND CANE
The Russian market sells sugar produced from sugar beets grown in our and neighboring countries, and sugar cane, the semi-finished product of which (raw sugar) is imported from Brazil, Cuba and Thailand. In terms of chemical composition, they differ from each other by hundredths of a percent; this difference is not significant. However, it is widely believed that sugar from beets is sweeter. This is most likely a misconception. If you conduct a closed test, most people will not distinguish one sugar from another.
Unfortunately, not enough sugar beets are grown in Russia. It is enough to cover only a little more than a third of consumption. Of the 6 million tons of sugar that Russia needs annually, until recently only 1.6 million tons were obtained from beets. In recent years, there has been an increase in production, and in 2004 a record was set for the last 10 years - 2.26 million tons were obtained.
Sugar beet processing begins in September and lasts 2-3 months. The best plants finish processing until February, the rest are left without beets already in November-December. In addition to the insufficient volume of sugar beets, there is a problem with its storage. Frosts and thaws turn beets practically into porridge, the yield of sugar from which is zero. In the northern United States, where the climate is no warmer than in Russia, there is an established and simple storage technology that allows factories to process beets until May. It is stored in large hangars with thermostatic foam-type firmware. Then they wait for frosts down to -10? C and close the room, creating a natural refrigerator.

MARKET DYNAMICS
The management of sugar reserves is completely determined by the “earnings” of companies: if there is no “earnings”, no one holds stocks. And they are not managed by logistics specialists, but primarily by commercial directors.
Price dynamics are very difficult to predict, and government regulation is a key factor in this matter. There is no other market in Russia that would be so dependent on government decisions (on whether quotas will be introduced, at what level duties will be set and from what date, etc.). In 2001-2003, there were quotas for the import of raw materials, within which the duties were lower than outside the quotas. Companies bought quotas at auction and imported them. Since 2004, the quota regime has been abolished and a mechanism of floating duties has been in effect. They change every month in inverse proportion to the New York Stock Exchange quotes: the higher the exchange prices, the lower the duty.
In addition to price fluctuations, the situation on the sugar market depends on the total reserves in the country, and their volume also varies quite significantly - from 0.3 to 1.8 million tons. The price minimum was recorded in the spring of 2000 - about $220 per ton, and in June 2004 prices exceeded $580.

PRICING STRATEGY
Sugar inventory management is a strategic pricing task associated with constant monitoring of market conditions. There are no universal recipes here. Some people think that raw sugar will be more expensive in the spring and summer, so in the fall they buy sugar from beets and build up reserves at the factory or ship them to the regions. From September to January, ready-made sugar is shipped, and sales continue until June. Some people expect an increase in import duties and, accordingly, a rise in prices, so they stock up. Someone strives to get a profitable contract for the purchase of Belarusian or Kazakh sugar, purchases significant volumes during a period when sales activity is low, and then sells them off for several months. The pricing strategy of all companies is different, and everyone is trying to guess what will happen with prices.
If we talk about a small regional wholesaler, a dealer of several companies, whose turnover is a thousand tons per month, then, as a rule, he works with 2-3 regular suppliers. He may also have irregular suppliers from whom he can purchase goods at a profit. What is the market strategy of such companies? They can manage the timing of the purchase and sale of sugar. They can sell/buy a few days or weeks earlier or later. It depends on the price situation on the market. If prices have been down for too long, companies may decide that they should now go up and therefore immediately buy enough sugar to meet their two-month requirement. Or they may be made a very interesting offer at factory prices, and they will decide that there simply won’t be a lower price.
However, if there is clearly a downward trend in the market (the price has been declining for several weeks or even months) and demand is sluggish, then such a regional trader will minimize his purchases to the limit. If he purchased 10 cars a week, now he only buys a car to “support his pants.” He knows that tomorrow the price will be even lower, but at least minimal reserves are required for turnover.
Large companies that import raw materials themselves usually have their own analytical departments that monitor prices, production and imports. Based on the results of the analysis, a decision is made: or not to take the shipment from the next vessel as a whole (25-40 thousand tons) or in parts (5-15 thousand tons).
For three years in a row (2001-2003), the quota regime was in effect. Many companies were simply forced to purchase sugar abroad, because the quota needed to be sold, even if market conditions were unfavorable. Naturally, after this they “sat” on stocks for a long time and traded a little at a time. Now quotas have been abolished, but another situation similar to the one that arose in December 2004 is possible. Then there was a very interesting situation for raw materials: world prices were low, duties were reduced and other costs were low. As a result, there was a surge in imports in December. Companies imported raw material, processed it, distributed it to their dealers, and as a result sold out inventory for several months. When the next successful period comes, companies will again try to purchase large quantities.
The industry has lived at this pace for many years. The market is very dynamic, and not everyone survives in it.

Sugar reserves in the Russian Federation at the end of the month, thousand tons

PRICING
In Russia, pricing on the sugar market is largely set by factories in the Krasnodar region. Although there are at least eight large producing regions, Kuban is a kind of market thermometer. The price in all regions is equal to the price of Krasnodar plus the railway tariff plus the costs of transshipment at the warehouse, which amount to 300-350 rubles. from a ton. However, the market situation in recent years is such that the real, existing price is much lower than a simple calculation shows, so it does not cover the costs of storage and transshipment.
This is due, firstly, to the fact that in many regions prices are reduced by supplies of imported sugar from the CIS. For example, having bought sugar in Krasnodar and brought it to Smolensk, the company will not only not cover the costs of transportation and storage, but will also incur significant losses, because there is a lot of relatively cheap Belarusian sugar there.
Secondly, large wholesale companies can buy a significant batch of goods and deliver it all to one or two cities, thereby collapsing prices. Either they found an extremely favorable price, or they purchased two months ago at prices that are no longer available, and shipped the goods to them late, or they “sat on it” and did not sell it for some reason of their own. One way or another, they set the price below everyone else, and other firms are forced to leave this region.
You also need to take into account the volumes of imported raw sugar. Now there is a floating duty regime, and there are months when everyone carries it or no one carries it. Naturally, when imports increase, the price, as a rule, decreases.
The possible purchase price for wagons and the sales price in the region never differ by a constant amount; there is no stable margin. Factory prices may go up, but retail prices may remain the same, and vice versa. The work of companies in such conditions is determined by the qualifications of the team. Only professionals who feel how the price will change in the region and at the factories survive. The peculiarity of the sugar market is that it is an absolutely identical product, not branded. If a neighbor’s product is one penny cheaper, all buyers will go to him.

SUGAR LOGISTICS
The share of transportation and storage costs in the price of the product is quite large, so allowing yourself to transship sugar twice is an expensive pleasure. Most companies try to do this once. Sugar from manufacturing plants is delivered by railcars directly to the final consumption region. For example, sugar arrives at a Moscow warehouse, is unloaded from wagons, and is bought from the warehouse by small regional traders, packers and industrial consumers. Very often, sugar does not even reach the warehouse; it is taken directly from the cars to reduce warehouse costs.
In past years, companies could afford triple and even quadruple transshipments, transported from one region to another and stored for a very long time, waiting for six months for prices to rise. These days are over, prices may never return to expected levels. Nowadays, cars arrive at the warehouse every day, and he usually keeps a one- to two-day supply in case of force majeure, so as not to stop production. At the same time, if players are confident that the upward trend will last, or expect a disruption in supplies, then the volume of inventories can increase.

SEASONALITY
Statistics show that the population’s demand for sugar increases in May-September with a peak in July, which is associated with home procurement. At the end of the year (from September), demand from confectionery and food industries increases on the eve of the New Year holidays (the production of gifts increases, etc.).
The only one consistently recorded is the July seasonal surge. But this growth does not happen every year. Over seven years of observation (1999-2005), it occurred twice clearly and once not clearly. Judging by the fact that there was a surge last year, it is unlikely to happen this year.
It can also be noted that prices always fell in August. But the decrease occurred from different levels: the price was both 250 and 600 dollars per ton.

IMPORT MODE
It should be taken into account that the existing import regime does not limit the volume of sugar imports. If favorable conditions develop within 1-2 months, “extra” hundreds of thousands of tons may be imported into Russia, which can affect prices within six months.
Until 2004, a sugar import regime was adopted for each year. In the best years, a government decree was issued in July-August, which outlined all duties and quotas. In 2004, the sugar import regime was only adopted in mid-December and factory prices fell from August to mid-December. All market players did not know what to expect. What if the government reduces duties a little? A reduction in import duties will immediately lead to a reduction in domestic prices. This delay in making a decision had a strong impact on prices: factory prices clearly went down until mid-December.

ELASTICITY OF DEMAND
Unlike other products, the volume of sugar sales is regulated solely by price. Moreover, this dependence is very strict. Let’s say the wholesale price per kilogram is 15 rubles, if the price is set at 15.10 rubles. - two bags are sold, if 14.90 rubles. - 300 tons sold.
To make sugar “not exactly the same,” traders pack bags not only of 50 kg, but also of 25 kg and 10 kg with a handle, provide delivery services, and provide deferred payment. Some offer a wide range of grocery items along with sugar. If a wholesaler purchases several items at once, for convenience and to save transportation costs, he can buy sugar, cereals and flour from the same company, even if the price is slightly higher than that of his neighbor.

PACKING
Some companies hope that organizing their own packaging workshop will allow them to increase sales. However, it is worth remembering that packaging is a completely separate, very specific business. And those who work in it almost never enter the wholesale market. Packaging cannot be done optionally. As a last resort, a separate manager can deal with it (and only it). If there is no such person, then packaging will not save the situation.
In the Moscow region, packaging capacity has been excessive for many years. As a result, simply dumping tariffs were formed. The price of sugar does not cover the cost of packaging it.
For a packer to survive, it needs assortment and significant sales volumes, which are provided by large retail chains. But reaching such customers is not always easy, and their purchasing prices are lower than in a separate store or small chain, which can buy sugar at any price.
The essence of packaging is an attempt to brand the product. But it is extremely difficult to create a legend using sugar. This is a simple exchange commodity that everyone is used to buying in bags.

CIVILIZED MARKET
So, the price of sugar is influenced by the expectations of market players, changes in final demand, the dynamics of beet and raw sugar production, the dynamics of duties, imports, world prices and a number of logistics factors.
It is worth noting that every year the bag trade is dying: the Russian consumer is becoming European, and the sale of packaged products is growing every year.