Maui Brand sugar production parts sold
Piece by piece, Puunene Mill parts ship out: Removal should not alter exterior framework of mill
The old Puunene Mill shut down in December 2016. It was the last operating sugar plantation at the last surviving sugar company, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., in Hawaii. -- The Maui News / CHRIS SUGIDONO photo
A locked fence prevents access Friday afternoon to an empty building at the old Puunene Mill. Equipment from of the old mill’s Maui Brand production facilities were sold to Philippines- and Florida-based companies -- The Maui News / CHRIS SUGIDONO photo
The old Puunene Mill shut down in December 2016. It was the last operating sugar plantation at the last surviving sugar company, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., in Hawaii. -- The Maui News / CHRIS SUGIDONO photo
A locked fence prevents access Friday afternoon to an empty building at the old Puunene Mill. Equipment from of the old mill’s Maui Brand production facilities were sold to Philippines- and Florida-based companies -- The Maui News / CHRIS SUGIDONO photo
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Equipment that produced Maui Brand specialty sugar at the now shuttered Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.'s Puunene Mill was sold to companies based in the Philippines and Florida, an Alexander & Baldwin official said Friday.
Darren Strand, the general manager of diversified agriculture for Alexander & Baldwin on Maui, mentioned briefly last week at a Board of Water Supply meeting that parts of the iconic mill were being removed by buyers.
"A lot of us feel a little bit of nostalgia, that people are taking it for use for sugar production for other parts of the world," Strand told the board.
He said that parts of the mill used by HC&S, a defunct A&B subsidiary, were sold, and "those guys are on property taking it."
A&B spokesman Darren Pai elaborated on the sale, saying that the equipment purchased was used by Maui Brand in the production of two different types of sugar -- turbinado sugar and plantation white sugar.
The equipment that processed turbinado sugar was sold to Crystal Sugar Co. Inc. from the Philippines, he said.
The white sugar processing equipment was sold to ASR Group, based in Florida, Pai said. It is one of the largest privately owned sugar refiners in the world with operations in the U.S., Mexico, Belize and Europe.
Some of ASR's equipment is going to Mexico and Belize, he said.
The company was not disclosing the terms of the sales, he said.
Maui Brand started in 1999 with the production of turbinado sugar, recognized by its large amber-colored crystals, Pai said. It is made by slow boiling of layers of sugar with added molasses.
The name comes from being spun in a cylinder or turbine to remove almost all of its molasses, Robert Luuwai, then vice president of factory operations, told The Maui News in July 2016 before the mill shutdown.
It was sold as Maui Brand Premium Maui Gold Turbinado.
Maui Brand production facilities were expanded from 2006 to 2008 to increase turbinado production and to add the production of plantation white sugar, Pai said. Maui Brand Hawaiian Plantation White or Natural White was an unrefined sugar, also known as VLC or very low color sugar. The sugar was used by many food and beverage manufacturers, such as Hawaiian Sun and ITO EN; bakeries; restaurants; and other consumers as a natural substitute for refined white sugar.
At its peak in 2010, Maui Brand produced 25,000 tons of sugar and was pumping out between 12,000 and 15,000 tons when the mill closed. Luuwai noted that then-President Barack Obama kept a stash of Maui Brand on Air Force One.
On Dec. 17, 2016, the Puunene Mill smokestacks stopped puffing as HC&S closed its doors after 145 years in business. The closure of the 36,000-acre plantation meant the loss of 650 jobs and the end of an industry that shaped Hawaii for more than a century and a half.
The mill remains standing, but the equipment has been sold off. There have been no upgrades around the mill and the property so far, Strand said.
"We don't expect the framework of the mill to change much" with the removal of the parts, said Pai.
Some sections of the roof will need to be removed to allow the equipment to be lifted out of the mill. That work will involve the use of cranes, which may be visible from the road.
The original mill, HC&S Puunene factory, was built on the site in 1901, according to the company. Puunene, which means "goose hill" in Hawaiian, had been the name of a small volcanic cone between Spreckelsville and Paia.
The mill's location at a higher elevation made it possible to gravity feed the the mill's cane wash water for reuse in crop irrigation, the company said.
* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.