Tipología de ingenios azucareros por eficiencia en planta basada en pérdidas de sacarosa

The sugar agribusiness requires tools that enable comparison of mill performance and focus actions to reduce in-plant sucrose losses. This study aimed to construct a typology of Mexican sugar mills based on indicators of sucrose losses and factory performance. The research was conducted in Mexico by analyzing secondary information from 46 mills observed in 10 harvests (2012/13-2021 and 2022), which was processed and synthesized in 2025. The base was collapsed at the mill level using the median by variable and standardized with Z-scores. Principal component analysis was applied to integrate four dimensions: sucrose losses, quality and technological potential of cane and juice, sucrose extraction from juice and industrial yield, and operational-energy intensity in the plant. The dimensional scores were used to perform hierarchical clustering (Ward’s method and Euclidean distance), which allowed the identification of six types of mills. Types IV and V concentrated the best overall performance by combining high quality/potential and higher extraction-yield with lower operational-energy intensity; Bellavista and Atencingo stand out. Types I and II showed lags associated with low quality/potential and lower extraction-yield; type VI presented high losses and operational-energy intensity despite relatively high potential, and type III corresponded to the El Carmen mill as an atypical case with high sucrose losses. The main conclusion is that the typology enabled us to guide differentiated strategies for improving and monitoring the plant performance of sugar mills in the Mexican sugar agribusiness.