FOR the first time since Wilmar took over the Proserpine mill in 2010, the crush extended to Christmas Day, and for the first time also the total cane crushed tipped two million tonnes.

In fact, it was the fourth largest crush since the mill opened in 1897.

Strathdickie's Gary Simpson was one grower to get all his cane to the mill this year and said although the average commercial cane sugar was down this year, dry weeks towards the end of the crush meant CSS didn't taper off like usual.

Mr Simpson said the three-year CCS average of about 14.5 dropped this year to about 12.7, which equated to a loss of $70 a tonne and about $100,000.

The grower said rain early in the season made the weight early in the crush.

"There never would have been two million tonnes if it wasn't for the rain in the early stages of the crushing,” Mr Simpson said.

"It grew the crop as well as the suckers, which in turn gives you lower CCS because the crop wasn't as ripe.

"And we had an open winter with not much cold weather. One compensates for the other and it has been a pretty good season.

"We were very lucky. It has been a good outcome for everyone - the town and the whole community - and dollars in the bank.

"Let's hope we get reasonable weather and have some sort of reasonable crop again in 2017.”

But Mr Simpson said the season had been "testing”.

"There was a lot of mill breakdowns and issues but in the end we got all the cane off.

"You can't blame the mill for everything. To their credit, the mill workers and the harvesting guys hung around to finish cutting. On Christmas Eve some people worked until dark cutting cane and the workers at the mill the next day had to work.”

Proserpine Mill site manager Danny Van der Berg said the higher than average end figure was due to excellent growing conditions and an increase in overall cane yield to more than 95tonnes per hectare.

"Millers, growers and harvesting contractors combined to achieve this result through good co-operation, communication and teamwork,” he said.

About 10,000 tonnes of cane was left as standover.