A crystalline sugar supplier’s supply chain: how Ragus ensures continuity of supply

The sugar supply chain is a complex network involving multiple stages, including cultivation, processing, refining and distribution, ensuring the steady flow of high-quality product from farm to consumer. Ragus sources, manufactures and delivers pure sugar ingredients to food and beverage and pharmaceutical brands, ensuring our supply chain is traceable and transparent.

In this blog, we explain some of the key stages, and stakeholders, in the supply chain for our pure sugar crystalline ingredients. 

Crystallines can be made from either sugarcane or sugar beet. Ragus’ sugar supply chain comprises four key stages. Each plays a crucial role in the efficient and stable supply of our crystalline products to customers: 

We source primary cane and beet sugars from African, Asia Pacific, Caribbean, European and South American approved suppliers. Ragus is committed to responsible sourcing from approved suppliers and to building long-term supplier relationships.

Sugar beet, which is used to produce a crystalline like soft brown light sugar, takes seven months to mature, while sugarcane is fully grown after approximately 12 months, although it is possible to harvest several crops from a single plant (or ratoon). Once harvested, the raw beet or cane is processed and refined, though some crystallines, like demerara sugar which is made from sugarcane, is minimally refined.

Sugarcane is transported to mills and sugar beet to the refinery for processing to remove impurities and achieve the required level of quality and consistency. The refining process typically involves purification to remove non sugar materials, heating and crystallisation to form refined granules, and drying and sieving to stabilise the sugar and further remove impurities.

Cane-based product is bagged and loaded into containers or lifted loose and loaded onto trucks before being transported to port terminals and delivered to sugar refineries or to our manufacturing facility in Slough for further processing into industrial sugar products. 

Our sourcing team travel the world to visit our suppliers in person, to ensure they meet the highest governance standards.

Product that arrives at our facility undergoes rigorous testing by our in-house experts, who also travel to supplier locations to assess their standards. Along with our Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and SEDEX accreditations, Ragus is also certified with the Fairtrade Foundation, the Organic Food Federation and Bonsucro, which require transparent business standards.

Sourcing sugar over many years has enabled us to cement long-term, relationships with high-quality suppliers, placing transparency and trust at the heart of these relationships. 

Sugar is imported in bulk to our factory in Slough, where we comply with all major UK, European and globally recognised manufacturing standards, such as the BRC Global Standard.

The machinery and equipment used within the Ragus factory is custom engineered, enabling us to meet customer requirements for batch production of specific formulations. We conduct quality control testing at every stage by analysing products for taste, texture, consistency and appearance.

Our sustainable pure sugars manufacturing strategy means we are always looking for ways to innovate and reduce our environmental impact at every stage of the sourcing and manufacturing process.

After passing consistent quality control measures, our crystallines are ready to be packaged for delivery to our customers for use in their applications.

On time and in full delivery underpins our service, distributing bulk orders to our industrial customers, maintaining close communications with all stakeholders throughout the delivery process.

The sugar supply chain is influenced by global challenges relating to economic, environmental and ethical factors which impact the production, cost and distribution of sugar. Three key challenges are:

Extreme weather conditions, such as droughts, floods and high temperatures becoming more frequent and unpredictable, have impacted global sugar production. Sugar farming demands significant water usage, particularly in warmer climates. In some regions, sugarcane farming has been previously linked to deforestation which can threaten biodiversity and contribute to climate change.

We aim to source our raw materials from suppliers that adhere to the highest standards around worker safety and working conditions, using tools such as SEDEX to audit our supply chains.

Supply and demand imbalances, geopolitical events and trade tensions and regulations can result in price fluctuation in sugar markets as the cost for raw materials, labour, production, storage and distribution rise.

We take a proactive approach to maintaining the supply of crystallines by sourcing the raw materials from different continents, and regions with multiple transport routes to the UK, reducing our dependency on a single supplier, country or shipping route. 

At Ragus, we know the sugar supply chain will continue to face challenges and we are committed to ensuring continuity of supply through responsible sourcing, advanced manufacturing, transparency and efficient delivery.

Ragus supplies pure sugar crystallines to customers in the food and beverage industries. To learn more about the transparency of our sugar supply chain, contact our Customer Services Team. For more sugar news and updates, continue browsing SUGARTALK and follow Ragus on LinkedIn.