Cosun Beet Company has almost completed its first two campaign weeks. The first delivered sugar beets have an average sugar content of 15,5%. That is half a percent more than what was started with last year. The tare contents were also low.
Sugar beets have not yet been supplied from all areas, as data from the first campaign week shows. Sugar beets have mainly been supplied from Zeeland, Groningen and Flevoland. Growers in the east and southeast do not have to supply beets in advance this year, due to the late sowing time and extreme weather. However, the delivery period will then be moved all the way to the end of the campaign. This will run until 25 January.
Yesterday afternoon/evening part of the sugar beets were harvested by @MechielsenBV.@CosunBeetCo pic.twitter.com/yacen87yu0
— Kor Berghuis (@KorBerghuis) September 24, 2024
Contents up to 16%
The sweetest beets were harvested on peat soils in Groningen, with 16,5% sugar. Together with the Groningen clay soil (16%), they are the only two areas where the content reaches 16 or more. Utrecht is at the bottom with 13,8%, but this will concern a very limited volume of beets. In most cultivation areas, the contents fluctuate between 15% and 15,5%. The WIN number is 90,3 on average.
The tare content averages out at 8,3%. That is relatively low and not so strange since it was quite dry in the first week. In the meantime, that has changed since the middle of last week. Quite a bit of precipitation is also planned for this week. Especially for the middle of our country. On the heavier clay soil, the tare is around 10%, but there are also peaks towards 5%.
Yields Varying
The start of the beet processing at Cosun went smoothly. The factories were not plagued by malfunctions, as was sometimes the case in previous years. Cosun only reports that the yields fluctuate considerably. This has everything to do with the growing season. Structural damage, leaf diseases and the sowing time all play a decisive role.
The JRC assumes 74,7 tonnes of beets per hectare for the EU. That is 2% more than was harvested in 2023. That was 73,1 tonnes. For the Netherlands, it assumes an average of 83 tonnes, which is 3% less than last year and 2% less than the five-year average. In the September report, the yield of Italy in particular has been significantly adjusted, by 9% compared to August. The beet yield in Romania has been reduced by 13%. This is mainly due to drought in August. The impact of the high rainfall in September is not yet entirely clear.
For the major beet countries; Germany, France and Poland, an above-average beet yield is still expected.