- EU sugar production is likely to fall short this year.
- This means that European beet producers won’t make enough sugar to meet consumption.
- This is because beet growth during 2019 has been impacted by adverse weather.
Some Rain Towards the South East, Still Dry Elsewhere
- Throughout the North West of Europe, soil moisture remains considerably below normal for this time of year.
- Towards the South East, there has been strong rainfall over the past weeks which should help the soil moisture recover to more normal levels.
- However, with harvesting due to begin in the coming days, we think that this rain is too late to significantly increase our EU production estimate of 17.45m tonnes.
Soil Moisture Change from Normal – End of August
- Given the poor growing conditions experienced and the reduced acreage, we forecast a fall in production in four out of the top six EU producers, making up over 80% of total EU production.
- The exceptions are Poland where there was a small increase in area and the UK where growing conditions have been slightly better than the rest of Europe.
EU Production Estimates
- This means that EU production will fail to meet consumption for a second successive year.
- Consequently, the EU will need to be a net importer of sugar.
German Beet Tests
- Sugar yields across Germany remain below the comparative 2018 test results.
- This is true even in the southern areas (Straubing/Ochsenfurt), where the soil moisture has improved over the last two weeks.
3rd Test Sugar Yield
- The main reason for the low sugar yields is the sugar content which is significantly below last year’s values.
- In Wetterau, sugar content has decreased since the first test which is an indicator of leaf stress due to the dry weather.
- The beet yield has faired slightly better with yields slightly above 2018, but this is not enough to make up for the poor sugar content.
Region Map
