In 1922, as the price paid for the cane decreased, farmers began to abandon their farms and the mill had to shut down.
The mill reopened for crushing in 1925 but in 1926 was taken over by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR).
Sugarcane was farmed in the Rakiraki district since the late 1870's, while a railway to transport cane was initiated in 1916, with the Penang Mill to Ellington Wharf line.
The mill had the distinction of having the highest proportion of the four mils of cane delivered to it by trucks.
As the result of damage caused by TC Winston in 2016, Penang which was already the least economic mill, closed.