Quote from September, 2000
When the current mill was installed in the 1970s, it was a prototype for a new cane-milling concept using the diffusion process, Ross said. The mill was once the most efficient in the state, he said. However, the company said that recent low sugar prices and a three-year drought on Maui forced the closing.Closing of the mill means changes in the way of life for many Paia residents. "We begin to wonder if it's the beginning of the end," said Annette Peters, wife of longtime truck driver Bobby Peters.
A string of shutdowns over the past five years has left Maui and Kauai as the only two islands where sugar is grown and processed. Amfac/JMB Hawaii Inc. has said it will start closing its Kauai sugar business in November, which will soon leave Gay & Robinson as the only sugar producer on that island.
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