Many foods have become more expensive due to rising prices for agricultural commodities. Scarce quantities and lower yields are also an issue in the sugar industry.
Europe’s second-largest sugar group, Nordzucker, ended the beet harvest and processing with losses due to difficult weather conditions in several regions. The strained energy supply also brought special challenges in 2022, explained manager Alexander Godow on Monday at the headquarters in Braunschweig.
The company did not give any concrete estimates of the further trend in sugar prices. CEO Lars Gorissen emphasized: “We are doing everything we can to continue on the common path with our growers and our customers in a sustainable manner in these times of high inflation.”
Extreme weather events lead to losses
The sugar beet yields have recently often been below the average of the previous five years – one of the main reasons for this was the extreme drought and heat in places. In some countries, however, heavy rain and permafrost also played a role.
The so-called sugar campaign usually ends around the turn of the year. In the large Uelzen plant in Lower Saxony, the last beets were only processed last weekend. This delay is also due to the minus temperatures in December and the subsequent thawing of the crops. A small amount of sugar beets that can no longer be used for food was therefore used in biogas plants, among other things.
The industry had already predicted a rather meager harvest in September. In Lower Saxony, where Nordzucker is based, there was rain at the beginning of autumn after another dry summer. However, the umbrella organization of North German sugar beet growers had dampened expectations. In the important growth phase in July and August it was far too dry.
Extreme weather conditions also impacted the sugar cane harvest in Australia. In July there were interruptions due to heavy rainfall. But the yields in cane sugar production have developed very well. Otherwise, the losses “were not offset by higher sugar levels, so that the overall campaign result was below average,” said Nordzucker. The largest European sugar producer, Südzucker AG from Mannheim, had recently reported good business.
Source: Stern
