Germany's refined sugar production is forecast to rise 1.6% in the 2019/20 season to about 4.26 million tonnes, sugar industry association WVZ said on Tuesday in its first harvest forecast.
A slight rise was expected this season, which is now getting under way, although German farmers have cut sugar beet plantings by about 15,000 hectares from last season to 375,300 hectares, it said.
German farmers are suffering from bans on pesticides which have not been imposed by other European Union countries, said WVZ Chief Executive Guenter Tissen.
Other EU states also continued to give financial support to sugar beet farmers, which distorted competition.
Action To Prevent Unfair Competition
Tissen called on the German government and EU Commission to take action to prevent unfair competition to German sugar farmers.
In the new season, 26.19 million tonnes of beets are expected to be delivered to sugar factories for processing, up from 24.64 million tonnes last season when Germany’s sugar harvest suffered from a serious drought and heatwave.
Average beet sugar content this season is estimated at 18.2%, down from 19.3% last season when the hot weather was positive for sugar content.
Germany is in most years the EU's second-largest sugar producer, behind France.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
