Cosun communicates wrong quality figures

Cosun Beet Company reported on Friday 30 October that it had mistakenly communicated the wrong quality figures to the growers. "After several investigations, it appears that an incorrect link has been made at the location in Viervlaten between the freight number and the sample number," reports Gert Sikken, Director of Agricultural Affairs at Cosun Beet Company.

In a letter to the beet growers, Cosun writes that since the start of the campaign, many questions have been received about the particularly large variation in the quality figures of the beet delivered to the location in Viervlaten. That outrage was also widely shared on Twitter. An initial investigation revealed no errors, so Cosun considered the communicated quality figures to be correct. A second, more intensive investigation shows that a mistake has been made.

"In short: unfortunately one position has shifted in our software, as a result of which the loads are incorrectly linked," says Sikken. This means that from the start of the campaign until Monday, October 26, for all deliveries at the location in Viervlaten, an incorrect link was made between the freight number and sample number. As a result, beet growers have received the quality figures of the freight from a colleague. Sikken emphasizes that this only concerns the location in Viervlaten and therefore not in Dinteloord. He also confirms that no data has been lost.

Settlement with next payment
Cosun hopes to communicate the correct quality figures to the growers as soon as possible. "I just can't say how long that will take. This could be 1 week, but also 2. To think that it will be in a few days is not realistic," Sikken reports. "In any case, we are now doing everything we can to correct the error and have put in place a procedure to prevent such an error from happening again."

Cosun reports that the adjustment could have both positive and negative consequences for beet growers. "Half of them will probably see a lower quality and the other half a higher quality," explains Sikken. In addition, the company reports that the financial consequences will be included in the next payment. "That can be a settlement with the advance payment on a next delivery or with the payment with the final settlement."

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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