News

Nordzucker launches campaign, forecasts good yields

7 Sep 2017

The Nordzucker Group has launched this year’s sugar beet campaign. Overall, the company expects good yields with large regional differences.

The Nordzucker Group has launched this year’s sugar beet campaign. Overall, the company expects good yields with large regional differences. The campaign is forecast to end in the second half of January 2018.

This year the campaign will start at the Polish plant in Opalenica. The first batches of sugar beet from the region were processed there from 5 September. Over the following week, the other Group countries will then gradually begin sugar production. The campaign will be up and running at all Group plants by 3 October. A preliminary thick juice campaign already began in Nordstemmen on 23 August.

This year, sugar beet was in the ground for an average of 200 days. Growth conditions saw large regional differences as a result of the weather. An extremely cold April in nearly every Group country caused a slowdown in the growth of the plants. However, rising temperatures in May helped the beet to recover and grow quickly again. While beet in Slovakia had to contend with extremely dry conditions, the weather conditions in other regions were more favourable – despite heavy rainfall in parts.

Dr Lars Gorissen, Chief Agricultural Officer, is optimistic about the upcoming campaign.

“The weather this growing year was very changeable and characterized by various extremes. Nevertheless, we expect good yields,” he said. “Whether it’s the new market conditions or changeable weather – beet has demonstrated its profitability and our new, flexible control models are paying off.”

This year, organic beet will also be processed in Schladen and Nykøbing for the first time.

“We are facing a long campaign in some cases,” said Axel Aumüller, Chief Operating Officer. “Our employees and our plants are well prepared for this.”

Last year, the Group invested around €84 million primarily in the maintenance and modernization of production facilities.

“The market demands a high degree of flexibility from us in every way. This is why we are specifically investing in the efficiency of our plants, in warehousing, logistics and product quality,” continued Aumüller. “New silos with additional storage capacities in Örtofta and Clauen are just as much as part of this as the modernization of pulp press units and process control systems.”