| SUGAR LAND, Texas -- For more than a century, Imperial Sugar
Co. defined this town, where sugar refinery workers were once
paid in chips that were good only at the company store.
"If you go back 40 years, basically the only business
in the city was Imperial Sugar," said Mayor Dean Hrbacek.
In the last decade, however, the population boomed by 158
percent, to 63,328, transforming the sleepy rural crossroads
into a bustling suburb of Houston.
Unocal, Fluor Daniel, K-Tec Electronics and other companies
have arrived. With about 660 employees, Imperial Sugar is the
eighth-largest employer in Sugar Land, behind the Fort Bend
Independent School District, the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice and others.
"It is a business that gave birth to us perhaps, but
we have a lot of other industries here that provide
opportunities," said Joe Esch, the city's economic
development director. "We are establishing ourselves as a
destination location -- a community in our own right."
Still, Sugar Land and Imperial Sugar share a 157-year
history, which recently included the company's filing for
bankruptcy protection, citing a $250 million debt.
Imperial officials say the company has struggled with low
sugar prices in a market glutted with imports and a bumper
sugar beet crop.
U.S. farmers frustrated with low prices for other crops
have switched in the last couple years to more stable sugar
beets. At the same time, trade agreements have forced the
United States to accept guaranteed amounts of imported sugar
despite increased production from American farmers. The
oversupply has caused prices to tumble by 20 to 30 percent.
"That's where this venerable company has gotten into
difficulties," said Peter Buzzanell, a sugar industry
analyst and a former sweetener economist for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Imperial registered a net loss of $34.7 million in its
fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2000. The company lost $18.1
million the previous fiscal year.
Hrbacek said folks in Sugar Land are confident that the
company that outlasted the Civil War and the Great Depression
can survive this setback. Imperial officials say that
confidence is justified.
"We filed Chapter 11 to stay in business -- not to go
out of business," said Doug Ehrenkranz, Imperial's
executive vice president of sales and marketing. "It's
been business as usual. Customers are with us, suppliers are
with us."
Imperial Sugar, founded in 1843, was a privately owned raw
sugar mill and then a cane sugar refinery until 1988 when it
bought publicly held Holly Sugar Corp., a Colorado Springs,
Colo.-based sugar beet processor. The acquisition doubled
Imperial's size.
More acquisitions followed in the 1990s, making Imperial
the largest sugar processor and refiner in the country. The
company employs 3,500 employees full-time at all of its
operations, and an additional 700 seasonal workers at sugar
beet factories.
The Sugar Land facility is one of the state's oldest
corporations still operating at its original site. Workers
there process and package up to 3 million pounds of
granulated, brown and powdered sugar each day.
Most of the process is automated, although people still
make sure boiled syrup turns into granules sized to customer
specifications and oversee machines that package sugar in
everything from eight-ounce packets to bags holding 2,000
pounds of the sweet stuff.
Imperial sells sugar under its own brand name and others,
including Dixie Crystals, Spreckels, Pioneer and Holly to
grocers, wholesalers and food manufacturers worldwide.
"It's a pretty important company," Buzzanell
said. "They represent a pretty sizable chunk of the U.S.
sugar market. They've just been caught in this situation that
has developed nationally and is related to our international
commitments."
Tommy Lanier, assistant director of operations, said that
while the bankruptcy has not affected production, it sent
ripples through the ranks.
Lanier, a 24-year veteran who has worked in every
department, said his father also worked at the refinery. He
said that on average, employees stay 18 years, and many are
second- and third-generation workers.
"With all our history, we've had only one layoff,
about 10 years ago," he said. "This made some people
uneasy."
Ehrenkranz, the marketing official, said some workers may
lose their jobs, "but this is not an area of major focus
as we analyze our costs."
The company expects to present a reorganization plan in May
to a federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware, Ehrenkranz said.
And employees are doing their part to cut costs. A
committee of workers from every department and managers are
re-examining all aspects of the operation -- from energy used
to power machines to quality of packaging materials.
"It seems like when companies get in trouble, that's
when they are willing to change," said committee member
Janice Bowling.
Lanier said the committee's work shows a commitment by the
company and workers to stay strong.
"From the outside, we look like an old business,"
he said. "But we're not standing by with our technology
or our management style."
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On the Net:
Imperial Sugar Co.: www.imperialholly.com
Sugar Land: www.ci.sugar-land.tx.us
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Facts about sugar from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and
two trade groups, the American Sugar Alliance and the Sugar
Association:
-- Americans consume 9 million tons of refined sugar and 12
million tons of corn sweeteners each year.
-- The United States is the world's fourth-largest sugar
producer behind Brazil, India and China.
-- The United States produces 80 percent to 85 percent of the
sugar it consumes and imports the rest from 41 countries as
required by trade agreements.
-- Wholesalers and dealers deliver 30.2 percent of sugar for
human consumption, and retail grocers and chain stores deliver
13.4 percent.
-- Of the rest, bakeries, cereal manufacturers and related
producers use 24.5 percent; candy makers use 14.4 percent; ice
cream and dairy, 5.3 percent; and beverage makers, 1.9
percent. Most non-diet soft drinks are sweetened with corn
syrup rather than sugar.
-- A bushel of corn makes enough high-fructose corn syrup to
sweeten 324 cans of soda.
-- A teaspoon of sugar contains 16 calories.
Distributed by The Associated Press (AP)
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