Nordzucker Reports Strong and Stable 2014/2015 Beet Campaign

23 Feb 2015 --- Nordzucker AG has brought the Group’s sugar beet campaign for 2014/2015 to a close on 7 February 2015. In total, the company processed some 18.3 million tonnes of beet at its 13 plants across Europe (previous year: 15 million tonnes). Örtofta in Sweden was the last plant to finish the campaign after almost 140 days.

The greatest challenge for most plants was processing the large additional quantities of beet following on from almost perfect vegetation conditions. “Our plants took receipt of over a million tonnes more beet than originally planned. That presented a huge challenge for our plant staff, the whole logistics chain and the equipment at the plants – one which they mastered extremely well,” said Axel Aumüller, Chief Operating Officer, summarizing the exceptionally campaign.

Chief Agricultural Officer Dr Lars Gorissen explained the large harvest by saying: “The seed was sown two to three weeks early and growing conditions were ideal throughout the vegetation period. Those were the main factors which led to the exceptional yield. Improved know-how and progress in cultivation show us that beet still has further potential.”

However: The unique quantity of extra sugar which is now available is further adding to pressure in a tense market environment, however. With this in mind, the land under cultivation will be significantly reduced in the next growing year: “Together with our beet farmers, we will work to relieve the pressure on the market by growing less,” emphasized Dr Lars Gorissen. As a result, the campaign will be much shorter next year.

The five plants in Northern Germany achieved a record result with an average campaign length of 129 days. Yields were excellent at around 14.3 tonnes of sugar per hectare (previous year: 11.3 tonnes). This reflected the optimum vegetation period and very good conditions until processing finished.

The Denmark campaign was especially considering the high quantities at the two Danish plants very demanding. Thanks to very good-quality beet, 14.2 tonnes of sugar was produced per hectare (previous year: 12.8 tonnes). The two Danish plants – Nakskov and Nykøbing – steadily processed a record harvest over the course of 123 days.

The Örtofta plant in Sweden processed 2.5 million tonnes of beet throughout a 138-day campaign. This was the longest campaign in the Group, only finishing in early February. The sugar yield was 12.2 tonnes per hectare – significantly higher than the previous year’s figure (11.3 tonnes).

Säkylä in Finland was the first plant to complete its campaign back in December with a sugar yield of 7.6 tonnes per hectare (previous year: 6.9 tonnes) – a regional record. The virtually uninterrupted processing period lasted a total of 81 days.

The Kedainiai plant in Lithuania also had very large quantities of beet to process. It faced a number of weather-related challenges due to frost. The campaign lasted 125 days, with a sugar yield of 11.9 tonnes per hectare (previous year: 11.0 tonnes) being produced at record speed.

The two regions of Poland experienced very different campaigns. With an average sugar yield of 11.9 tonnes per hectare, production matched the previous year’s good level (11.9 tonnes). However, there were significant differences in yield and polarisation.

The Slovakian plant in Trenianska Teplá also took delivery of a very large beet harvest. As a result, its campaign lasted 36 days longer than the previous year’s. It took 133 days to process the sugar beet. At 12.6 tonnes per hectare (previous year: 10.3 tonnes), the sugar yield reached a record high.