France’s second-largest sugar maker, Cristal Union, reported a record net profit of 307 million euros ($334 million) for its financial year 2023-24, marking a 72% increase from the previous year’s 179 million euros, supported by high sugar prices, reported Reuters.
The cooperative group stated that sales soared by 20% to 2.8 billion euros for the year ending on January 31, with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) climbing 50% to 432 million euros.
Despite a slight decrease in area (-2%) and challenging weather conditions, the company managed to capitalize on a thriving sugar market and satisfactory sugar beet yields, as stated in their release.
Similar success stories have emerged from other European sugar and ethanol groups like Tereos, France’s largest producer, and Suedzucker from Germany, which also reported robust earnings in the previous fiscal year due to the surge in prices reaching record highs.
