[2] His determination to build the largest and most up-to-date plant was initially stimulated by a period of intense rivalry with Jardine, Matheson & Co. who already owned a refinery.

A site for the refinery was selected at Quarry Bay, Hong Kong and the capital for the venture was put up chiefly by John Samuel Swire himself, Holt's James Barrow, H J Butterfield, Messrs. Ismay and Imrie, W J Thompson and R N Dale.

[citation needed] The Taikoo Sugar Refinery (TSR) faced stiff competition from Jardine Matheson & Co. in its early years but, by the 1920s, the Japanese had become their greatest competitors.

[citation needed] The 1920s was a period of constant difficulties - a strike in 1923, poor markets in 1924 and a three-month boycott in 1925.

In December 1941 Hong Kong fell to the Japanese and production was halted until the plant was returned to John Swire & Sons in the autumn of 1945.