North Queensland's sugar industry could suffer $500m in damages from Cyclone Yasi

TOUGH TIME: Cyclone Larry veteran John Blanckensee with sugar cane which he says will snap even before Cyclone Yasi hits.

CYCLONE Yasi could inflict $500 million in damages to north Queensland's sugar industry, industry body Canegrowers has warned.

‘’The half a billion projected losses do not even start to include the cost of broader damage to infrastructure such as the road and rail network, houses, property, mills and ports,” according to Canegrowers chief executive Steve Greenwood.

Mr Greenwood said about 30 per cent Australia’s entire sugar cane crop is grown north of Townsville, and is in the direct path of the Category 5 cyclone. Australia is the world’s third-largest exporter of raw sugar.

Cyclone Larry, which made landfall near Innisfail in north Queensland five years ago, wiped out up to half of all the crops in its path, he said.

‘’There were those in Cyclone Larry who lost everything - farmhouses, crop, machinery, sheds and livelihood during the devastating force,’’ Mr Greenwood said.

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‘’We are preparing ourselves for damage control mode, so we can move quickly to focus on assisting individual growers for whom there have been immediate severe economic losses.’’

Canegrowers also warned that there ‘’is no insurance for sugarcane growers in the region’’.

‘’Some growers stand top lose 100 per cent of their crop, a blow from which they will never recover.’’

source: couriermail