The company said its new 12-story, 300,000-square-foot refinery will allow it to produce the sugar found on dinner tables and in processed food products for the first time in its 67-year history.

Before this, US Sugar had shipped its sugar for further processing to refineries around the country.

US Sugar farms sugar cane on 165,000 acres in south central Florida and operates two raw sugar mills that produce more than 762,000 tonnes of sugar annually.

The new refinery is adjacent to US Sugar's Clewiston Mill, which the company said is the largest raw sugar mill in the United States.

It has an initial capacity of 1,829 tonnes of refined sugar a day, or 548,600 tonnes a year. US Sugar officials said they expected the refinery would operate three shifts and run 300 days during its first year.

The refined sugar willbe marketed by United Sugars Corp, a cooperative of midwest beet sugar producers and US Sugar. The refined sugar will be sold under the Pillsbury Best label.

United Sugars is the sole licensee for Pillsbury Best sugar, which currently is undergoing test marketing and will soon be distributed nationwide.

The Clewiston refinery will supply Pillsbury, as well as a number of private label brands, the company said.