A Comparative Study Concerning Qualitative Characteristics that Influence the Refining Operation of Raw Imported Sugar and the Sugar Produced Domestically

of syrup. Raw cane sugars are most widely used and are important as raw materials in the sugar industry. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the quality of raw cane sugar and the factors influencing and controlling the refining process and compare the results with the domestically produced sugars. This study evaluates the physical and chemical properties such as moisture, ash, sucrose content, pH, refractive index, colour, invert content, dextran and starch concentrations in the raw sugar. The result indicated that the imported samples of raw sugars had higher concentration of sucrose but lower percentages of invert, dextran, colour and ash as compared to the domestic samples. This might affect the cost of the refining operation. It is worth to mention that the imported raw sugars had generally higher starch concentrations than the domestic samples. The imported samples with high polarization and low impurities are recommended to produce the white sugar.