The shipping business gave rise to other new ventures. Encouraged by China Navigation’s growing trade in raw cane sugar from Java and the Philippines and ready markets in China and Japan, Butterfield & Swire acquired a sizeable plot of waterfront land at Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island. In 1881, Tai-koo Sugar Ltd. was established. Work on the Taikoo Sugar Refinery commenced in 1882, and it went into production in 1884. In its day, this company ran one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated plants.