France's second-largest sugar maker Cristal Union said it has produced 1.5 million metric tonnes of sugar in 2024/25, up from 1.3 million tonnes last season, mainly due to a rise in the area harvested by its cooperative members.
Total ethanol and alcohol output in 2024/25 rose to 2 million hectolitres, it said, up from more than 1.6 million hectolitres in 2023/24.
The increase was due to a 6% rise in the sugar beet area harvested this season, which offset a fall in yield to nearly 84 tonnes per hectare, below the five-year average, against more than 86 tonnes per hectare last season, a company spokesperson said.
Sugar beet yields are based on a 16% sugar content.
Seasons run from sugar beet harvesting in the autumn to the following year. Sugar processing takes about three to four months.
Sugar Beet Output
Cristal Union's production trends are in line with a rise in total sugar beet output in France despite yields falling to a 17-year low owing to adverse weather.
The company last week said it had reached an agreement to take over the refinery of the Lesaffre family located south of Paris, marking a new consolidation in the French sugar sector.
It also agreed to continue processing sugar beets harvested by the members of another factory, Ouvre, which decided to shut down.
France's largest producer Tereos said in a financial presentation last month that yields would also be below the five-year average.
Tereos reported an 18% drop in its first-half net profit, pressured by a fall in sugar and sweeteners prices, and warned of a further decline in the second part of its fiscal year.
