Innovation: The case of Cane Special Sugars*

by Mrinal Roy, Director, Mauritius Sugar Syndicate

* presented at the Symposium on Agriculture (29-31 October 2003)

The innovative production and marketing of special sugars has been a path breaking and exhilarating adventure with its trials and tribulations, its laurels and setbacks. Through thick and thin, the producers and the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate who market special sugars have guided its success story over time.

Innovation stems from new ideas which effectively address consumer needs, values and living habits.

Birth of an idea

The sugar cane plant was introduced in Mauritius in 1639 from Batavia in Java by the Dutch Governor Adrian Van der Stel. This ushered a long tradition in sugar cane manufacture. The development and marketing of cane special sugars stemmed from an idea which took shape in 1977: Why not use more than three and half century old know-how in sugar manufacture to innovatively produce from the molasses rich cane sugar juice natural unrefined cane special sugars and market them as finished products for consumer and industrial usage thereby generating value-added revenue for the producers.

The special sugar adventure started in 1977. After discussions with the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate, a buyer (Billington Sugar Ltd) accompanied by a West Indian sugar technologist, Mr. G. Kallichurn from Trinidad, visited Mauritius in 1977 with the object of teaching local mills how to produce Demerara in Mauritius for marketing in the United Kingdom. Demerara was a cane special sugar traditionally produced in the West Indies for export to the UK market where there was a demand for it. Through this transfer of technology, 2,000 tonnes of Demerara were produced in three factories in 1978 and marketed the same year in the UK through Billington. This event was a catalyzing factor which set the scene for a momentous strategic decision: the innovative production and marketing of unrefined cane special sugars. Prior to 1978, Mauritius had traditionally been producing bulk raw sugar for export to the EU and the US under its long-term preferential sugar arrangements. A new era of producing and marketing unrefined cane special sugars was thus ushered in 1978.

A distinctive alchemy

This strategic decision led to the emergence of a unique breed of innovators who combining the rigour of Lavoisier and the zest of Paul Bocuse reactively orchestrated their clarifiers, evaporators and crystallizers through a complex alchemy to ‘’craft’’ cane special sugars which match the commercial requisites of market driven demand.

Alchemy is by definition the esoteric science of converting ordinary products into gold. Any creative process has its own alchemy. The innovative production of cane special sugars was based on a distinctive alchemy aimed at producing a new range of natural sweeteners from the cane juice.

The natural goodness of the cane juice

The venture of converting cane juice into special sugars to meet market demand had to be driven by sound commercial considerations and validated by remunerative market outlets generated by a pointed marketing strategy.

In the late 70’s, the dominant sweetener in the market place was refined sugar. The central marketing strategy therefore aimed at creating a product differentiation towards unrefined cane special sugars which preserve the natural goodness of the sugar cane through its molasses content, its mineral content and nutritional value, its aroma and its rich flavor. Initially, the sales focus was targeted in the emerging health food segment of the market. The sale promotion was effected in partnership with Billington in the main market for special sugars, the United Kingdom and by the Syndicate through specialist buyers prospected in specialized Food Fairs in targeted regions and markets both within the EU and across the world.

Product Innovation and Sales Development

As from 1978, pursuant to a proactive matching of market-driven demand and innovative production, a range of 15 cane special sugars were ‘’crafted’’ as natural ingredients tailored to meet the specific needs of industrial and consumer usage.

This broad range of new cane special sugars have been developed at regular intervals by various mills during the 1978 – 2002 period in the chronological table detailed below.

We certainly did not hone every special sugar crystal to size to satisfy the specific customer needs but the commitment to special sugars was as if we did.

This process generated a proactive partnership between the manufacturer and the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate. It should be flagged that Mauritius pioneered the production of Organic cane sugar in 1992 in accordance with EU norms and successfully marketed this novel addition to its product range within the EU and the United States.

Golden Granulated Raws

The innovative process of producing unrefined cane special sugars can best be illustrated by three examples. In 1978 the mill Belle Vue developed on a trial basis a new product Golden Granulated Raws to address market demand. The idea behind this product was to produce an unrefined cane special sugar which would be an ideal substitute to refined sugar. Golden Granulated thus had the same quick dissolving, sweetener and grain size characteristics of refined sugar but in addition provided as value-added the natural goodness of cane juice to the consumer. Its success as an unrefined substitute of white sugar led to quantum increase in sales, especially in the UK where it was marketed under the slogan ‘’Ideal for tea’’. Similarly, in response to market demand, the Caster derivatives of Golden Granulated raws were developed namely, Golden Caster and Fine Golden Caster which were positioned and marketed in the Caster segment of the speciality market.

The Golden series of speciality sugars developed overtime were thus extended to include other niche products such as Golden Bakery (Light Brown Soft), Golden Coffee Crystals as well as Golden Fine Demerara and Golden Demerara.

Soft Sugars

In the early 1980’s the market demand for more molasses rich special sugars led to the difficult venture of producing a range of soft sugars from third crystallization cane juice. In view of the texture of these sugars, this product development posed formidable production challenges to the producing mill, Beau Champ, such as controlling the Osmophillic Yeast level, the consistency, colour and texture of the sugars as well as its keeping qualities before commercially viable speciality sugars could be developed and successfully marketed.

The successful marketing of soft sugars in various segments of the speciality sugar market soon generated demand for products having similar characteristics of flavour and aroma but with a drier texture to render them more manageable during usage. In short, some users in particular bakeries wanted molasses rich cane special specials whose relatively more free-flowing texture would be better tailored to industrial and domestic usage. To this end, Light Brown Soft (Golden Bakery) and Dark Brown Soft were developed and marketed to meet this specific market requirement.

All these proactive matching of market demand by innovative product development illustrate the creative and inventive acumen in special sugar manufacture in Mauritius.

The central objective of innovation is to meet consumer needs through new products. This innovative acumen in the production of special sugars can also be illustrated by the invention of new cane special sugars such as Golden Granulated Raws, Golden Bakery (Light Brown Soft), Golden Coffee Crystals or Dark Brown Soft.

Thus pursuant to actions taken by the Syndicate, three of the innovative products developed in Mauritius, namely Light Brown Soft, Dark Brown Soft and Golden Coffee Crystals were listed on merits in the New Products Catalogue of the prestigious specialized international Food Fairs Anuga and SIAL.

A new approach

A broadening product range necessitated a new approach focused on the marketing of value-added ingredients. In parallel, the industry which had traditionally been a producer of bulk raw sugar exported for refining abroad, had to adopt a new production culture and invest in dedicated cane special sugar production lines. This new approach also led the industry to operate in an integrated mode with the same market-driven rigour as any successful manufacturing firm.

In a concomitant strategy, the marketing of special sugars was broadened from niche sales in the health food segment to mainstream marketing and distribution in the various segments of the speciality market. It was supported by a global promotional strategy anchored on building partnerships with specialized buyers across the world.

We realized early in the process that the discovery of an insect leg in the sugar invariably horrified the British housewife and that the futile entomological debate as to whether the insect leg was Mauritian or British could but exacerbate her horror. There are numerous anecdotes, which attest to the difficult learning curve of strict compliance with the more rigorous international legislation governing the food industry enacted in the wake of the multiple food scares. A buyer on a routine quality assurance audit of a factory was so impressed by the absence of birds and pests in the factory that he enquired about the pest control system in place. With a smug self-satisfaction, the factory manager shared his secret: cats were used for this purpose! The story quickly made the round of the factories and the lesson of the do’s and don’ts of food grade quality assurance was learnt, albeit the hard way.

The new approach was therefore also anchored on investment in enhanced quality benchmarks to provide the marketing of special sugars with an added competitive edge in the market place. This meant inculcating, albeit through a long winded process, the new market ethics of rigorous compliance with food grade norms, of quality assurance and conformance, of traceability systems and the implementation of ISO and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) production systems.

Marketing of ideas

Such a potent and comprehensive marketing strategy led to a proliferation of market uses for special sugars in the various segments of the special sugar market. We were soon in the business of marketing ideas to the targeted economic actors in the various segments of the market.

Special sugars were thus marketed.

• As a natural sweetener for tea, coffee, fresh fruit or cereals
• As a natural ingredient in the manufacture of a broadening product range (muesli production, jam, health food bars, toffees, chutneys, sauces, topping on ice cream convenience food etc.)
• In the baking industry (for making fruit cake, ginger bread, Christmas cakes, puddings or biscuit making etc)
• In the retail mainstream distribution (Tesco, Sainsbury, Auchan, Safeway etc) and in the catering industry (coffee shops, restaurants and hotel chains)
• In haute cuisine as the special sugars were endorsed by a growing list of prominent chefs and cook book writers in the preparation of savoury dishes and desserts (Deila Smith, RicK Stein, Brian Turner, Nigel Slater or Phil Vickery)

The Mauritian label

The cogent marketing actions taken over a quarter of a century have shaped the Mauritian label. Special sugars ‘’Made in Mauritius’’ are a recognized label of quality products. Cane special sugars have become synonymous with Mauritius and the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate. Any economic operator in the speciality segment of the food sector wishing to source cane special sugars knows of only one address: The Mauritius Sugar Syndicate. There is therefore an imperative need to jealously safeguard this valuable sum of know-how in cane special sugar manufacture in order to assure continued benefits to the community of producers through value-added revenue.

The Special sugar success story

Some key elements attest to the special sugar success story. From 2,000 tonnes of one special sugar sold in one market in 1978, the Syndicate today markets 70,000 tonnes covering a range of fifteen cane special sugars with multiple domestic and industrial usage in 35 countries across the globe. Mauritius thus stands by far as the world leader in the special sugar segment of the sugar market.

Clones and Competition

Any innovative concept is automatically replicated. There are thus in the market a multiplicity of offers from diverse countries resulting in tougher competition. The way forward lies in keeping our competitive edge through more innovation to meet market generated demand, higher value-added and broader product range, more rigorous quality conformance, unrivalled sales service and timely logistics. The competitive edge must necessarily be also further enhanced through consumer packaging of special sugars and anchored on higher quality benchmarks and fair trade norms.

Innovation is a dynamic on-going market-driven process and the growth engine to sustain successful sales development.

The exhilarating adventure of cane special sugars has more innovative miles to go and new marketing milestones to cross for the benefit of producers and consumers at large.

31.10.2003