Sugar Beet Campaign 2008: Nordzucker Predicts Good Yields

Sugar beet processing begins at the Klein Wanzleben factory on 16 September, followed by Uelzen on 19 September. Nordzucker is expecting slightly above average yields of almost 60 tonnes beet per hectare.

15/09/08 Nordzucker is ready to start the 2008 sugar beet campaign. The company predicts good beet and sugar yields. The campaign starts at the first factory in north Germany on 16 September.

Sugar beet processing begins at the Klein Wanzleben factory on 16 September, followed by Uelzen on 19 September. The other north German sugar factories start up four days later. Nordzucker is expecting slightly above average yields of almost 60 tonnes beet per hectare. The beet fields in Niedersachsen and Schleswig-Holstein in particular are forecast to make the main contribution to this positive forecast. "Despite sowing the beet very late this year, the plants developed all the faster and grew very well,“ says Natural Resource Director Dr. Henrik Einfeld. "Across the Group we are expecting a beet harvest of around ten million tonnes. We assume that processing the beet in our factories will continue until the first half of January 2009,“ explains Einfeld. The beet this year was sown around three weeks later than in previous years. Favourable growth conditions in general with plenty of rain in summer enabled the beet to develop their full potential despite the late start.

Energy reduction measures continue to be a high priority in all Nordzucker sugar factories. The turbines moved to Clauen, and the extraction plant transferred to Nordstemmen, make a noticeable contribution to driving down energy consumption.

To improve Nordzucker’s fitness for the new market conditions even further, Nordzucker installed cane sugar refining plant in its Chelmza factory (Poland). The first cane sugar conversion phase will be successfully completed in the near future.

A second thick juice tank with a capacity of 60,000 cubic metres in the Nordstemmen factory will enable a thick juice campaign to be run from 2009 onwards after the actual sugar beet campaign. This measure helps satisfy customer demands even more precisely throughout the year. The service centres in Uelzen and Trencianska Tepla (Slovakia) will also become more flexible and efficient with the installation of more packaging lines.

The beet campaign in the international factories (Poland, Serbia, Slovakia) already began on 4 September. The first to start was Vrbas in Serbia. Beet processing is mainly expected to continue until Christmas 2008 in line with the forecast beet volumes. An above average beet yield is expected in Slovakia, whilst average yields are predicted for Poland and Serbia.