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 and incorporated Tai-koo Sugar Ltd. Work soon commenced on the Taikoo Sugar Refinery, which went into production in 1884. In its day, this company ran one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated plants.