Almost from the beginning, Taikoo purchased raw sugar from the Philippines and Java; two steamships were purchased specifically to transport raw sugar from these two regions to Hong Kong. The integrated investment of steamship lines and refinery greatly helped the development of Taikoo Sugar Refinery. The China Navigation Company, a subsidiary of Butterfield and Swire, held the right to carry all sugar refined at Taikoo to north China, Japan, India and Australia, adding considerably to the profits of the parent firm.

The Manager's "Raw Sugar Cargo Analyses Journal" covers the period from 1950, when Taikoo resumed importing raw sugar for the first time after the war until 1972, when the refinery closed. It provides valuable information on the imported article, including country of origin, volume, polarization (level of sucrose content) and level of impurities. Raw sugar was imported chiefly from Indonesia, Australia, Mauritius, Taiwan, Fiji, the Philippines and Cuba. Indonesia’s sugar had the highest polarization (99.28%) while sugar from Cuba the lowest (97.09%).

This is an important document for studying industrial development, especially sugar refining, in Hong Kong.