Sugar Land, Texas, Jun 01: It will soon be sugar-free in Sugar Land, Texas. Imperial Sugar Co will finally wind down its packaging and distribution operations in the Houston suburb on Tuesday after shuttering its historic refining operations there in December as part of phase-out of the plant.
``We`re just cleaning out the warehouses,`` Imperial executive vice president Duffy Smith said. ``It`s sad end to a real legacy in the area.``
Imperial`s headquarters will remain in Sugar Land, which took its name from an industry that first drove its economy in the mid-1800s.
The sugar company is among the Houston area`s longest continuously operating businesses, and the land on which the refinery sits was the site of a sugar plantation and a mill that dated back to 1843.
The company is moving its operations to Gramercy, Louisiana, where it is cheaper to produce sugar products because sugar cane is grown in the area. For most of its life, the Imperial refinery in Texas processed Louisiana sugar brought in by ship and then rail.


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