Aussie mill swings to full operations

After being given the go ahead last week to be bought by the Spanish food giant Ebro, Australia's rice industry co-operative SunRice has now turned another corner with its Deniliquin rice milling operation in New South Wales getting fully operational after a three-year shutdown. The company said last week more than 100 employees were working at the two mills on the site, which were recommissioned late last month after six years of drought forced it into "care and maintenance" in 2008. The mill, one of the biggest in the world, is running 24 hours five days a week but needs another 40 employees to run non-stop. Meanwhile Australia's rice harvest his year is expected to reach about 800,000 MT mark, driven by good rainfall and irrigation water allocations during the past year. When the decision was made to shut the plant in 2008, the rice crop had fallen to a low of 19,000 MT. - Oryza