Sugar beet production in France is expected to rise slightly this year as a rebound in yields compensated for a lower area, but the forecast could be cut after heavy rainfall flooded fields in northern France, growers group CGB said on Tuesday, Nasdaq reports according to Reuters.
In a first estimate for the ongoing 2023 harvest, CGB pegged the sugar beet crop in France, the European Union’s largest producer, at 31.5 million metric tons, up from 31 million last year as a rebound from last year’s drought-hit yields compensated for a lower area sown.
Record amounts of rain
France has experienced record amounts of rain between mid-October and mid-November, weather forecaster Meteo France said, with many large sugar beet regions recording showers nearly every day, while heavy rainfall in the north flooded fields in the past weeks.
“In terms of harvest conditions, it is catastrophic, there is water everywhere,” CGB Chairman Franck Sander said about current harvesting in northern France, adding that more rain was expected in the coming 10 days. “It’s not good.”
Harvest delays forced some sugar factories in France, notably from the country’s largest producer Tereos, to slow down production.
French farmers had reduced the area sown with sugar beet in the spring by 5%, deterred by poor crops in previous years and pesticide restrictions.
Sander expected a rebound in area for the 2024/25 season following a surge in EU sugar prices to record highs but called on farmers to contain plantings to avoid a surplus and a collapse in prices.