STEAM stopped billowing from the chimney stacks of the Proserpine sugar mill earlier this week marking the end of the 2012 sugar cane crush.

Sucrogen Proserpine production manager Damien Kelly said the last of the 2012 cane supply was delivered to the mill on Monday morning with the final billet of cane passing through the rollers at about 5am.

A total of 1.61 million tonnes of cane was crushed over the season which Mr Kelly described as less than the original estimate but the most that the Proserpine district has produced since 2008.

"The other highlight was the CCS (cane content supply)," he said.

"It's the highest it's been since 2009 at 14.56 [per cent] for the season average."

For the past 23 weeks cane has been harvested from the fields, transported to the mill by rail and put through factory processes of being crushed, clarified, concentrated, crystallised, separated and then transported to the Mackay Port as raw sugar.

Mr Kelly said it had certainly been a challenging season in terms of factory reliability.

"And we're looking forward to the opportunity to improve our equipment with a large capital program planned for the upcoming maintenance period," he said.

"What we do know is we're expecting an even bigger season in 2013 with additional land being put under cane."

Sucrogen's grower and community relations general manager John Pratt said the tragic death of Proserpine employee John Erikson on November 11, meant Sucrogen's inaugural season as the mill's new owners would always be remembered with sadness.

"To end the season on such a sad note has been difficult for everyone," he said.

"It has been a challenging year for our Proserpine employees, as they've adjusted to the transition to Sucrogen ownership.

"They have worked hard and coped well with the many process and system changes which have been put in place throughout the year to standardise Proserpine with our other sites."