The Florida-based owners of the 117-year-old Domino Sugar Chalmette Refinery announced Tuesday they have begun construction on the first phase of a nearly $800 million expansion at the facility, an investment that signals Louisiana’s continued central role in the American sugar trade.
Executives from plant owner ASR Group, the world’s largest refiner of cane sugar, were joined by state and parish officials for the groundbreaking of a new processing building at the Arabi refinery, the largest in the Western Hemisphere.
“This is the cornerstone of our American business. This is the biggest, most important asset we have,” said Luis Fernandez, president and chairman of West Palm Beach-based ASR Group.
In the expansion’s initial phase, which is expected to cost more than $200 million, the company is building a 40,000-square-foot filtration building…