Agrifoto

News Sugar Beet

Sugar Beet slightly sweeter at the start of the campaign

Monday 11:34 am - By our team of market reporters

Cosun Beet Company has almost completed its first two beet campaign weeks. The first delivered sugar beet averaged an sugar content of 15.5%. That is half a percent more than what was started with last year. The tare levels were also low.

Sugar beet have not yet been delivered from all areas, as indicated by data from the first campaign week. Sugar beets have been delivered mainly from Zeeland, Groningen, and Flevoland. Growers in the east and southeast do not have to deliver beet in advance this year due to late sowing and extreme weather. However, the delivery period is then completely shifted to the end of the campaign, which runs until January 25.

Contents up to 16%
The sweetest beet was harvested on peat soils in Groningen, with 16.5% sugar. Together with the Groningen clay soil (16%), these 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 growing areas, the contents range between 15% and 15.5%. The WIN number averages 90.3.

The tare content averages 8.3%. This is relatively low and not surprising given that it was quite dry in the first week. However, there has been a change since the middle of last week. There is also quite a bit of precipitation 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 outliers towards 5%.

Yields vary
The start of 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 yields fluctuate considerably. This is all related to the growing season. A poor soil structure, leaf diseases, and sowing time all play a decisive role.

The JRC expects 74.7 tons of beet per hectare for the EU. This is 2% more than in 2023. At that time, it was 73.1 tons. For the Netherlands, it expects an average of 83 tons, which is 3% less than last year and 2% less than the five-year average. In the September report, the yield of Italy has been significantly revised upwards 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 heavy 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.

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