The frost of the past few days has damaged quite a few sugar beets in the field. National beet yields are good this year, reports Cosun Beet Company.
A total of 2.100 hectares of beets still had to be harvested until this week. This was mainly in the north of the Netherlands on clay soils. Cosun Beet Company expects that the large part of the beets still in the field cannot be delivered according to the usual delivery conditions. In addition, there are several parties that were not covered, insufficiently covered or not covered on time and also suffered damage due to the frost. For this reason, the sugar company has decided to give the growers in question the opportunity to supply under special conditions.
Beets are also occasionally found that are affected by phoma. The past season was characteristic of the fungal attack. Extreme drought followed by rain in combination with a higher pH value.
Top 3 best returns
The average sugar percentage of the campaign is 16,7%, but the differences in the Netherlands are large. The sugar content in the north is well above 17% and in the south lower at approximately 16%. In addition to the high sugar percentage, the average carrot yields in the Netherlands are also good this year, says Arno Huijsmans, director of agricultural affairs at Cosun. There are poorer plots that have suffered from crusting and drought, but there are also very good plots. Considering the sugar contents and the root yields, Cosun expects that this year could possibly end up in the top 3 of years with the highest yields.
The tare percentage has averaged 10,2% this season, but has increased in recent weeks. In week 49 this amounted to 12,1%. The campaign is running on schedule and the target set in August of closing the factories on January 26 is easily achievable.