Hamburg: Germany’s sugar production from beets is forecast to rise by 17% to 4.95 million metric tons in the new 2024/25 season, up from 4.22 million tons last season, the country’s sugar industry association WVZ announced in its second harvest forecast. This figure has increased from the earlier estimate of 4.77 million tons in September, thanks to more sugar beet plantings and favourable weather conditions that have improved beet sugar content.
German farmers planted more sugar beets for the new season, with a 5.7% increase to 385,000 hectares. In general, across the whole European continent, farmers planted more sugar beets due to high sugar prices at the end of 2023. German farmers are going to supply 32.96 million tons of beets for sugar factory processing, which is up compared to 29.81 million tons last season.
Average crop yields are forecasted at 85.5 tons per hectare against 81.8 tons during the previous year, and sugar content is expected to increase to 17.1% against 16.4%. The sugar beet harvest in Germany has already begun.