Rogers Sugar

Rogers Sugar Inc. is the Canadian holding company of Lantic Inc., which was established in June 2008 after the merger of Lantic Sugar Limited operating in Montreal, QC (Eastern Canada) and Rogers Sugar Ltd. (operating in Western Canada). It is the largest refined sugar distributor in Canada.^[1] Established as Rogers Sugar Income Fund in October 1997, the income trust was converted to a regular corporation named Rogers Sugar Inc. in January 2011.^[2]

History

The merged entity of today initially began as separate companies on both the east coast and west coast of Canada. The original Rogers Sugar company was established in Vancouver as the British Columbia Sugar Refining Company in 1890 by its American-born founder, Benjamin Tingley Rogers,^[3] whose father was president of E.J. Gay’s Sugar of New Orleans.

Atlantic Sugar Refineries was established in 1912 from the merger of three sugar refineries, including Acadia Sugar Refining Co. (established 1893 in Halifax),^[4][5] and later renamed as Lantic Sugar Limited. The company was owned from 1981 to 1990 by Steinberg's. In 1984, Lantic Sugar acquired St. Lawrence Sugar, which had been established in 1888 in Montreal.^[5] Lantic Inc. was created from the merger of Rogers Sugar and Lantic Sugar on June 30, 2008.

On September 28, 2023, 135 employees at the Vancouver refinery walked off the job after issuing a 72-hour strike notice. They had been attempting to negotiate with the employer for six months after their contract had expired. The employer was demanding major concessions in terms of hours of work and benefits. The previous year had the highest EBITDA balance recorded in the company's history.^[6]

Facilities

The combined company operates the following facilities:^[7]

• Montreal cane refinery: Located in Montreal, the refinery was originally built in 1888 by St. Lawrence Sugar. A major upgrade was completed in December 2000, upgrading normal capacity to 440,000 tonnes (970,000,000 lb); this permitted the Saint John plant to close in July 2000. In February 2024, Rogers Sugar raises $110 million through an equity offering to partially finance a 20% expansion of Lantic's Montreal plant's sugar production capacity.^[8]
• Vancouver cane refinery: Located in the Port of Vancouver, the Vancouver facility primarily processes imported raw sugar into sugar products.
• Taber sugar beet factory: Located in Taber, Alberta, this plant processes sugar beet into sugar products. The plant contracts with nearly 400 farmers each year to plant and grow sugar beets.
• Toronto Distribution Centre: Located in New Toronto at 198 New Toronto Street, this warehouse receives processed sugar by rail and distributes it for the Ontario region. The warehouse also stores liquid sugar in tanks and is a liquid sucrose melt facility.
• Toronto Blending operation: Located in
  Scarborough
  at 230 Midwest Road, this 65,000 square feet (6,000 m²) facility is used for bulk dry blending services.

References

External links

• Official website
• The story of Rogers Sugar Archived 2015-01-04 at the Wayback Machine