News Trial harvests
Belgian beet growth remains below par
The most recent trial harvesting figures from Raffinerie Tirlemontoise show that the yield is still 20% below the level of 2017. Compared to the previous sampling (2 weeks ago), an additional 15 tons has been added.
Tiense Sugar notices Note that the sugar beets still have little leaf mass. In 2 weeks, an average of 130 kilos of sugar per hectare grew per day. Over the past month that was 134 kilos. This is lower than the 5-year average, which is 160 kilos. The differences per region and plot are large, which means that an unambiguous picture cannot be made.
Previous sampling
The test harvests of sugar beet amount to just under 76 tons per hectare, measured on August 27. That is an increase of 15 tons in 2 weeks. Still almost 20% below last year's result. However, the sampling date is 1 week earlier this year.
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procent
The average sugar percentage is now 16,73%, which yields 12,7 tons of sugar per hectare. This is a decrease of 21% compared to 2017. The leaf mass is considerably lower, at 29 tons versus 40 tons in 2017. There are, however, more plants per hectare: more than 104.000 compared to 99.800 last year.
Raffinerie Tirlemontoise is owned by Südzucker and has 2 factories in Tienen and Longchamps (Namur). This year, €15 million has been invested in the locations. The processing machines have been renewed or improved.
Samples Iscal Sugar
Iscal Sugar in Mons also carried out trial harvesting on 20 August. These come out on average (all Belgian regions) at almost 64 tons per hectare. Yields fluctuate strongly: from 55,5 to 68 tons. The average sugar content was 1% more than 15,31 week ago, with toppers up to 17,45%. The carrot yield was about 2017% higher in 18. The sugar content is almost the same. 130 kilos of beet grows every day, which is relatively little compared to the average.
When the Belgian sugar beet campaign will start, both beet processors have not yet announced. Last year it started at Tiense on September 12.
Niels van der Boom
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