German sugar producer Südzucker sees gross profit increase by 73,5% in the third quarter of fiscal year 2022/23. The costs of raw materials, energy and packaging have risen sharply, but that effect has been more than offset by a higher European sugar price and good demand and ditto prices for biofuels. This is evident from the quarterly figures of the largest sugar group in Europe.
Südzucker's turnover for the first three quarters of the 2022/23 financial year, which runs from March 1 to February 28, has increased to €7,1 billion. Last financial year, turnover in the first three quarters amounted to €5,6 billion. Ebitda increased from €519 to €805 million this current financial year. Gross profit (Ebit) has more than doubled compared to the first three quarters of the previous financial year to €536 million. The turnover of Südzucker's sugar division rose to €2,4 billion.
The price increase in the agricultural raw materials markets has not ignored the sugar market, according to the company. The volume of sugar sold is smaller, but due to the higher price, turnover has increased by 20% compared to the same period last year. In the 2022 campaign, beet yields will be below the five-year average due to the dry summer. The average campaign duration for 2022 is an average of 103 days. Last year it was 124 days. Südzucker expects to process 2022 million tons of beets in the 23,3 campaign and extract 3,4 million tons of sugar from it. Last year, 27,6 million tons of beets were processed and 4,2 million tons of sugar were produced.
Energy
The CropEnergies division also performed well. Turnover increased by 51% to €1,1 billion and gross profit rose from €94 to €235 million. This is mainly due to good demand for bio ethanol. The Special Products-division is a bit out of place in Südzucker's report. Turnover increased at this business unit, but gross profit fell by 25% to €71 million. Südzucker attributes this to increased costs that cannot be passed on directly to customers. The sugar market remains volatile, Südzucker writes in the outlook for the 2022/23 financial year, but profit expectations have been further adjusted upwards for the current financial year.