Nordzucker Post 02/2022 - 2 June 2022

Flexible models secure sugar beet cultivation

Sufficient food availability is a challenge worldwide. Our beet growers have always contributed to this. Sugar beet areas throughout the Group have also been cultivated on the same scale as before for the upcoming harvest. Due to rising prices, Nordzucker has promised growers in Germany a significantly higher price for the 2022 harvest than in the previous year with contracts based on sugar earnings. At the same time, however, the development of raw material prices is significantly increasing the attractiveness of competing crops in the field (cereals, rapeseed). Sugar prices at the end of the campaign are also expected to allow a further significant increase in beet prices.

The fixed contracts will also be reviewed again after the 2022 campaign, when an overview of all costs and prices can be reliably provided.

Flexibility is also the guiding principle for the next cultivation year, 2023. Nordzucker expects beet price opportunities well above 40 Euro per tonne for cultivation in Germany when the 2023 harvest is settled. Accordingly, a contract offer was made with a guaranteed price of 37 Euro per tonne of sugar beet. This price includes surcharges for an average sugar content of 17.9 per cent as well as the average remuneration for beet pulp, early and late deliveries. The company bears the costs for maintaining the storage area, loading and cleaning, as well as transporting the beet.

This offer will also be reviewed and adjusted accordingly in spring 2024, taking into account the necessarily rising sugar prices and the development of costs. This flexibility leads us to expect prices for sugar beet of well over 40 Euro per tonne of beet. A model that keeps beet cultivation attractive and secures the sugar supply.