Nordzucker Post 01/2021 - 28 January 2021

2020/2021 campaign almost trouble-free – focus on health protection

Nordzucker expects to process more than 16.5 million tonnes of beet (previous year: 15.7 million tonnes) across all 13 European plants at the end of this year’s campaign. Örtofta is the last plant expected to finish processing in the second week of February. Overall, the company expects the campaign to be longer than last year, lasting more than 118 days (110 days). This year, organic beets were again processed into organic sugar at the three plants in Schladen, Nykøbing and Kedainiai. 

The conditions of this campaign during the Corona pandemic deserve special mention, emphasizes Axel Aumüller, COO: “We are very pleased and grateful that the health protection measures implemented during the campaign worked. The responsible attitude of our employees was instrumental in keeping the number of infections among our staff to a minimum. Our special thanks go to our colleagues here.”

Axel Aumüller goes on to report on the campaign, saying that for the most part the plants have run very reliably and almost trouble-free, and that the investments in environmental measures, efficiency and product quality have proven their worth. For the coming years, Aumüller adds, investments in reduced energy use and lower CO₂ emissions, as well as the performance of our plants, will be the driving forces.

For the third year in a row, the 2020 growing season was characterized by a lack of rainfall in many regions. However, the start of rainfall at the end of the summer provided a boost to sugar beet growth and led to a slightly above-average yield of 69.5 tons of beet per hectare across the Group. At 17.7% sugar content, the five-year average was not quite achieved.

Dr. Lars Gorissen, Chairman of the Executive Board and responsible for the Agriculture division in the Nordzucker Group, explains: “This year’s result shows once again that beet can still increase yields late in the season and makes very effective use of rainfall. Group-wide, we are satisfied with the result overall,” and emphasizes, “Sugar beet is an important component of agricultural crop rotations. Our Group-wide initiatives to research and test more environmentally friendly cultivation methods with reduced and appropriately dosed use of fertilizers and crop protection chemicals will make regional sugar from beet even more attractive.”