The sugar beet campaign started less sweetly this year, but is going smoothly and well due to the favorable harvesting conditions. This does not entirely apply to beet processing, which was delayed in both Cosun Beet Company factories.
In the first week of the beet campaign, which started last week on September 20 in the two Cosun factories, the sugar content reached an average of 15%. That is lower than in recent years, says Arno Huijsmans, Director of Agricultural Affairs at Cosun. "The sugar content is 15% lower than we are used to. But the first carrot yields certainly don't seem bad. In addition, the harvest is going well with the current conditions in the field." Due to the cold, late spring, the beets have suffered some growth delays. The later summer period with a lot of moisture made up for a lot, but as a result the beet developed better in terms of root growth and relatively less in terms of sugar content.
The good harvesting conditions ensure low tare figures, resulting in the average tare percentage in the first week of the campaign being 8,6%. The regions of Groningen and Drenthe have an average sugar content higher than 15% and the south and center of the Netherlands is between 14,5% and 15%. It is likely that the sugar content will increase further in the coming weeks. Cosun itself estimates that the average hectare yield this year will be 14,1 tons of sugar per hectare. Last year this was higher at 14,5 tonnes of sugar.
Start-up problems at sugar factories
The processing campaign has been slightly delayed due to various reasons. There were problems at both locations, but at the Groningen sugar factory this led to a greater delay in supply, says Huijsmans. This week too, beet growers report that processing is not yet going entirely according to plan. To date, this has had no consequences for the length of the beet campaign, which started one week later and ended two weeks earlier due to the late season and expected lower production.