Colonial Sugar Refining Company (Fiji) - CSR Mills in Fiji

CSR Mills in Fiji

Sugar production had started in Fiji with the collapse of the cotton price in early 1870s. Many small sugar mills were established but these were badly managed and not profitable. During the period of low sugar prices in the 1890s, most of these mills closed, leaving only four mills in operation in Fiji at the turn of the century. CSR's first Mill in Fiji started crushing sugar cane in Nausori in 1882. Another mill was built at Viria and crushed from 1886 to 1895. It was closed because it was too small to be viable. The Chalmers brothers built the Penang Mill in 1880 and sold it to Melbourne Trust Company in 1896. The mill was enlarged (with machinery from Mago Island (where a mill had closed in 1895) and the increased crushing capacity together with favourable weather conditions enabled the mill to operate independently. The Penang was closed down in 1922 but reopened in 1925 by the Penang Company. In 1926 it was taken over by the CSR. Other mills were established in Ba in 1886, in Labasa in 1894 and in Lautoka in 1903. At this stage there was only one other non-CSR mill in operation in Fiji. The Navua sugar mill was built by Stanlake Lee in 1884 and operated under the name of Fiji Sugar Company Limited. The mill never made any profit and relied on CSR for support. The CSR did not buy the mill when it came up for sale in 1905 because it wanted other millers in the colony, so that they could approach the Government jointly over tax concessions. It was bought by the British Columbia Refining Company in 1906 and operated as the Vancouver-Fiji Sugar Company. It still failed to make any profit and was closed in 1923. The Nausori Mill was shut down in 1959 because of low sugar content in the cane supplied to it.