• QCS 2018 Christmas office closure

    QCS’ offices will be closed for a break over the Christmas and New Year period. The Brisbane and Mackay offices will be closed from Monday 24 December 2018, with the Brisbane office opening again on Monday 7 January 2019, and the Mackay office on Monday 14 January 2019. We would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year, and we look forward to working with you again in 2019, delivering strong raw sugar pricing and marketing outcomes to growers in the Mackay region. Over the break, you wi...
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  • QCS end-of-crush updates completed

    QCS held a series of grower information sessions throughout the Mackay district during the week. Weather conditions made it challenging for many growers to attend—in fact, some of our growers ended up fighting fires instead—but despite this, there was a great turnout. QCS would like to thank those growers—Stuart Volker, Tony Bugeja, Steve McKeering and Joe and Stephen Muscat—who hosted sessions, generously offering up their sheds, their time and their barbecues! Thanks also to the many growers who man...
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  • Grower information sessions 26–29 November 2018

    With the 2018 crushing season completed, QCS is hosting a number of grower information sessions. The sessions will include a one-hour presentation followed by an informal discussion (including questions), covering the following topics: Sugar and currency markets update: A broad overview of current market drivers, and an update on global sugar supply and demand for the coming season. This is a great opportunity to understand the factors currently affecting the price of sugar. Forward pricing tools: A revie...
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  • Watch closely when markets rally

    If you’ve been watching the market recently, you will have noticed it has rallied over the past month or so. This rally is providing good pricing returns for forward seasons, particularly the 2020 Season. We spoke last week about forward pricing, and whether it is part of your overall pricing strategy. This week, we want to let you know that now might be a good time for you to consider the potential benefits (and also the risks) of forward pricing. While we can’t tell you what is appropriate for...
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  • Forward pricing: is it part of your pricing strategy?

    Mackay growers were the first in Australia to be able to individually forward price, and have had access to innovative and flexible forward pricing arrangements for more than 15 years. But what is forward pricing, and should it be a part of your overall pricing strategy? What is forward pricing? Forward pricing, which Mackay growers know as long-term banded pricing, enables you to ‘lock in’ a price for sugar beyond the current season. Depending on views about what the market will be like in the future, the...
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  • Your marketing returns: what else is included?

    Last week, we talked about the Sugar Price component of your cane payment*. While the Sugar Price makes up by far the largest part of your overall marketing return, there are other parts to your return. Some marketers offer an additional per-tonne amount (or bonus) if you ‘sign on’ for a specified period of time. A bonus may sound appealing, but remember it is only a tiny part of your overall return. A $1 per-tonne bonus is of little value if your Sugar Price component is substantially less than that of ano...
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  • Your marketing returns: the Sugar Price

    The cane price you receive is determined by a formula in your cane supply agreement.* This cane price contains a ‘Sugar Price’ component. The Sugar Price is the largest component of your cane price, which means your GEI marketer’s decisions in relation to the Sugar Price are key to your returns. So what is the ‘Sugar Price’? It’s a combination of the ICE #11 futures sugar price, and the exchange rate used to determine an Australian dollar price for sugar. Sugar futures are traded on one of th...
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  • Performance against benchmark: what does it mean?

    As one of its key achievements for the 2017 Season, QSL reported that it ‘exceeded the performance benchmark’ by $29.95 per IPS tonne of sugar.1 By the way—in case you’re wondering—QCS exceeded that same benchmark by almost $75 per IPS tonne. But what does ‘exceeding the benchmark’ really mean, and is it a valid measure of performance? In short, the benchmark is a theoretical pricing approach where a predetermined sales and pricing pattern is adopted—that is, the pricing manager does not ap...
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  • Let’s talk about production risk and its management

    Production risk is the possibility that you don’t produce the quantity of sugar you expected to, resulting in a production shortfall. This can occur for many reasons and at various points of the supply chain. Weather, pests and diseases can reduce cane yields and harvests, and equipment failure, fire and transport problems can have substantial impacts further down the line. Production shortfalls can impact an individual farm, many farms in a particular area or even the entire Queensland industry, with signi...
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  • QCS: A focus on maximising returns

    QCS focuses on maximising returns to growers and the mill because what goes in your back pocket is the most important contributor to the success of your business. QCS' 2017 Season weighted average net pool price for ICE 11 managed pools was around $45 per IPS tonne of sugar more than QSL's pool price, which equates to an extra $5.50 per tonne of cane for Mackay growers.* QCS has accepted QSL’s stated basis for calculating its weighted average net pool price and calculated the QCS return on the same basis...
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If QCS is the marketer for all or some of your GEI sugar and you would like to forward price online, please contact us  to arrange access to the Pricing Portal.

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