Canadian Sugar Market

Sugar is a basic and essential ingredient in Canada’s food supply. In addition to its sweet taste, sugar (sucrose) has many unique functional properties that make it an important ingredient in many foods. As a result, refined sugar is widely available for both consumer/home use (retail packaged sugar) and industrial customers (food processing and food service).

Canadian sugar is significantly lower than the cost of sugar in most developed countries, including the United States and Europe, where the costs of domestic subsidies (higher prices) are passed on to consumers. Canada’s globally efficient sugar producers offer a valuable competitive advantage to the Canadian food processing industry - the top manufacturing industry in seven of ten Canadian provinces. In fact, Canada’s comparatively low priced sugar has been cited as an important competitive advantage in encouraging several food processors to locate in Canada.

• Canadian Sugar Today
• Canadian Sugar Manufacturers
• Rationalization & Reinvestment
• Cost Competitiveness

Canadian Sugar Today

With refining operations in four provinces, the Canadian sugar industry continues to provide Canadian consumers and industrial customers with a reliable supply of high quality, low cost refined sugar. Canada produces over 1.3 million tonnes of refined sugar annually. Approximately 90% is refined from raw cane sugar imported in bulk to cane sugar refining operations in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. The balance is refined beet sugar from domestically grown sugar beets in Alberta. Whether produced from cane or beet, the refined sugar is the same - pure sucrose.

Per capita sugar consumption in Canada has not increased since the early 1940's, so the Canadian sugar industry relies on Canadian population growth to expand its market. While Canadian sugar companies have actively pursued export markets, success has been extremely limited because of foreign trade barriers. For more information on sugar consumption in Canada click here.

Refined sugar is produced in several forms for both retail and industrial customers. More than 85% of Canada’s sugar production is destined for the industrial market. Sugar is available in three main product categories: white granulated sugar, liquid sugar and specialty sugars. There are more than 80 different types of sugar and package sizes offered to meet the needs of both consumers and food processors.

Variety of Refined Sugar Products

Granulated sugar is the most common form of sugar used in households and commercially. Canadian Food and Drug Regulations require a minimum purity of 99.8% sucrose, but all refined granulated sugar produced in Canada exceeds 99.9%. Granulated sugar is produced in various crystal sizes and is usually packaged in 2, 4 and 10 kg packages for home use; in individual envelopes for food service; and in 20 and 40 kg bags, 1 tonne tote bags or bulk for food manufacturers. Liquid sugar and liquid invert sugar are water/sugar mixtures preferred by some food manufacturers including soft drink bottlers and confectioners. Specialty sugars include icing sugar, brown sugar or yellow sugar, demerara sugar, and a number of other sugar products to suit varying consumer and industrial needs.

Where does our sugar come from?

Cane sugar - The growing of sugar cane in Canada is impossible because of the climate, so the majority of Canadian refined sugar is produced from raw cane sugar imported from tropical regions including South and Central America, Australia and the Caribbean. The raw sugar is transported by ship in bulk cargo to refineries located at deep water ports in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. Here it is refined to separate the pure sugar crystals from molasses, plant residue and impurities.

Beet sugar - Sugar in Canada is also produced from sugar beets grown in Alberta. The white sugar beet is from the same family as the vegetable beetroot but contains a high concentration of sugar (sucrose) – 15 – 20% by weight. The sugar beets are harvested in the fall, and then processed to extract the sugar and separate it from the fibre, water and other non-sugar materials. Major by-products include molasses and beet pulp, which is used to produce a highly nutritious animal feed

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Canadian Sugar Manufacturers

There are currently three cane sugar refineries in Canada: Lantic Inc. operates refineries in Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver, British Columbia. Redpath Sugar Ltd. has a refinery in Toronto, Ontario.  Lantic also operates the country’s only sugar beet processing plant, located in Taber, Alberta.

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Rationalization and Reinvestment

The Canadian sugar industry continues to provide Canadians with a reliable supply of high quality, low cost refined sugar. At the same time, the industry has evolved through consolidation and rationalization in response to significant competitive pressures. The industry depends on a stable Canadian market yet has faced increased competition from imports of refined sugar and competitive sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup. Export market opportunities have been extremely limited by foreign trade barriers.

Since the early 1980's, several facilities and distribution centres have been closed, costs have been cut and productivity has been improved. Prior to 1980, there were ten sugar processing plants operating across Canada. By 1980, there were six, and by 2000, the number of plants was down to four -- three cane sugar refineries and one sugar beet processing plant.

Canada’s remaining sugar refining operations are globally efficient and well positioned to compete in a fair market. As part of their determination to remain cost competitive, Canada’s sugar refiners continue to reinvest in their facilities and communities across the country:

Rationalization & Reinvestment in the Canadian Sugar Industry

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Cost Competitiveness

The Canadian sugar industry is internationally unique in that it does not depend on government subsidies. Basing its prices on world raw sugar markets, it sells sugar at prices that are among the lowest in the world.

Since its inception, the Canadian sugar industry has operated under an open market policy, based on the principles of free trade. By aligning sugar prices closely with world market raw sugar prices, Canadian refiners have been able to market refined sugar at prices below those of almost all other industrial nations.

In most other countries, government intervention supports sugar prices at artificially high levels and imports are restricted. While these policies protect the domestic sugar producers in these countries, they also result in higher prices for the consumer and sugar-containing product manufacturers. In the US, Europe and Japan, for example, sugar prices are as much as two to three times higher than in Canada. Canada's low sugar prices benefit Canadian consumers and have helped many sugar-using food manufacturers to compete internationally.

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