Sugar mills are located near sugar growing areas, because of two factors
Weight loss sugar accounts for only ~10% of the bulky sugarcane and therefore it
is prohibitively expensive to transport sugarcane over long-distance in its
original form.
Sugar mill
Sugar refinery
Lets examine the factors that led to growth Desi-videsi sugar industries
Limiting factor=proximity to raw material. So sugar mills are located in 30-50 kms
radius of sugar-cultivating areas.
(list non-exhaustive)
State
Location
factor
impact
climate For sugar, warmer climate=better yield=> Maharashtra grows thicker variety
of sugarcane.
Proximity to Ocean=the difference between minimum and maximum temp. During crop-
maturity months=very low=>increases sugar yield.
sugar crushing season is longer
energy Mills use bagasse as fuel (recall Bagasse cogeneration) = dont need coal.
labour available
factor
impact
factor
impact
climate Hot climate, the north east trade winds= increase sugar yield.
market Cuba faces the USA (the greatest sugar market in the world)
not very far off from the north west European countries
Misc.Countries
Mauritius, Fiji sugarcane Grown with help of indentured labour from India.
Sugar beet
German-climate unsuitable for sugar-cultivation.
They had to rely on imports=sugar-shortage during wartime.
Therefore, Germans developed a method to extract Sugar from sugar beet, and
encouraged the cultivation of sugar beet for the strategic reasons of self reliance
during war-time.
Later industry spread in Belgium and France as well.
In European countries, cool autumn retains the sugar content in root= higher
yields.
Sugar juice makes up to 20% of the root= significant weightloss. Therefore, just
like sugarcane, sugar beet must be processed quickly at nearby factories
But sugarbeet Factories cannot be fed consistently and only operate during the
harvest season= increases cost of running.
Banana Plantations
In the next article, we will discuss the geographical factors affecting the
location of tea and coffee plantatio