Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MAUI SUGAR
sugar cane fields
Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company, a division of Alexander and Baldwin,
produces between 170,000 and 185,000 tons of raw sugar annually at its Pu'unene
mill-the last sugar mill left in the state of Hawai'i-enough to account for 5 percent
of total U.S. production. About 35,000 acres of land on the island are under cultiv-
ation, mostly spread across the isthmus. On average, each acre yields about 12 tons
of sugar. Aside from the raw sugar, which is sent to Crocket, California, to be re-
fined at the C&H processing plant owned by Hawaiian sugar planters, the Pu'unene
mill yields 52,000 tons of molasses annually and generates 6 percent of Maui's elec-
tricity by burning bagasse, the crushed cane left after the juice is extracted.
Maui once had 14 mills spread between Lahaina and Hana. Remnants of the
Pa'ia mill (built in 1880, completely rebuilt in 1905, but now mostly dismantled
after being shut down in 2000) can still be seen along Baldwin Avenue above the
town of Pa'ia. The Pioneer Sugar Mill in Lahaina has also mostly been taken down
