Appropriate technology in sugar manufacturing

Abstract

In the discussion of the ‘appropriate technology’ issue very little direct evidence has been offered on what actually constitutes the appropriate technology in the various industries and countries concerned. This article reports the results of a detailed study, based on a combination of economic and engineering analysis, of the optimum choice of technology in sugar manufacturing. Private and social ‘profitability’ are computed for a wide range of actual and synthetic technologies. Contrary to recent suggestions in the literature, capital-intensive technology is shown to be clearly superior at all but the smallest level of scale, and unit costs are found to fall sharply as output rises. Labour-intensive technologies are also shown to be particularly skill-intensive, and vulnerable to relatively small increases in input prices.