An average late sowing date and persistently dark weather ensure that the sugar beets are considerably less sweet this summer. In Belgium, sugar yields are even 40% lower. By moving the campaign forward, this effect is further strengthened.
It is not known what the average sowing date will be for our southern neighbors. It is clear that this is quite late. Persistent precipitation caused problems this spring. Many beets only went into the ground in June. Then it remained wet and dark. From the end of July, the beets can benefit from sunshine, but this does not yet translate into a higher sugar yield.
40% less sugar
The Belgian news website Vilt language with Erwin Boonen, director of raw materials at Tiense Suiker. It is one of two beet processors in the country. The company, which is part of Südzucker, sampled 200 plots at the beginning of August. "This showed that we are heading for a 40% lower sugar yield," says Boonen. Hopefully some of this backlog will be made up this summer, but it is clear that there is a significant yield loss. Iscal Sugar, which has its factory in Fontenoy (near France), also assumes a below-average yield. The company does not make this known, but a grower tells Vilt that here too the late sowing date clearly cost growth and therefore sugar.
Second bad campaign
Last year, Belgian factories also struggled with low sugar levels. Tiense Suiker processed 3,5 million tons of beets. Although a slightly higher carrot yield than the year before, the sugar yield was low. The company has paid growers €55,91 per tonne for contracted tonnes. Outside of that, €53,47 per tonne was paid. This price refers to beets with 18% sugar, while in practice this was previously 16% or less.
Iscal had a very difficult campaign due to the wet autumn, which meant that the beets could not be harvested or processed. Frost also caused problems at the end of the season. Iscal even called in Cosun's help to process their beets, but the cooperative rejected that.
Early campaign
It was precisely because of this weather risk that the Belgian factories had decided in advance to start the campaign earlier. Tiense Suiker started on August 25 last year and planned to start even earlier this summer. Because the revenues are so disappointing, the company is pushing this date back slightly. The idea is that the risk of frost damage is limited by starting the campaign early.
Cosun has not yet expressed any yield expectations for sugar in our country. At the end of July, an average of 79 tons of beets per hectare was expected. The campaign starts here on September 17, which is three days earlier than last year. With an average sowing date of April 24, sowing was also done relatively late in the Netherlands, although the spread is large and not as dramatic as in Belgium.
Last month, the European JRC assumed 73,4 tons of beets per hectare in Europe. That is virtually the same as the five-year average. For Belgium it even assumes a slightly higher yield. In the Netherlands this is equal to the average. The question is whether the August report shows a different picture.
Sugar beets in Germany above average
German beet growers have been able to sow earlier and this is also reflected in the trial harvest figures. Growers' organization Franken Rüben, in the south of Germany, measured an average yield of 66,2 tons per hectare with 15,3% sugar at the end of July. The range in yield from 48 to 89 tons is large, but 40% higher than the multi-year average. The sugar yield is 10% below average. This image is confirmed by, among others, seed supplier Strube. In their test harvests for the whole of Germany, they achieved a beet yield of 70 tons at 15,5% sugar.
The French Agreste has not yet announced a yield forecast for sugar beets in France. This year, 411.000 hectares of beets were sown. That is 32.000 hectares (8,4%) more than was sown in 2023.