2024-03-23 10:25:37
Lhe beet seedlings are still sparse. Curtains of rain have long closed access to the agricultural scene. No time to put a tractor in a field. Farmers therefore had to wait behind the scenes while waiting for the soggy soils to be drained, according to the established term. As a result, in the beet growing areas, between the greater Paris Basin and Hauts-de-France, via Alsace, the start time was around two weeks late.
However, this year, cereal growers have decided to focus on the sweet root. According to the General Confederation of Beet Planters (CGB), the planted area could return to the 400,000 hectare mark, an increase of 6% over one year. A clear rebound while the beet fields have been melting inexorably since 2017. A change of course driven by world cereal prices.
Indeed, on Euronext, the price of a tonne of milling wheat has continued to slide and is now close to the 200 euros per tonne mark. A tough return to earth for the grass which peaked at 438 euros per tonne in May 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. The corn, whose fate is closely linked to the sheaf of wheat, also unscrews. Its price is close to 190 euros per tonne.
Open valves
In this bearish context, sugar is sailing against the tide. Although speculation has calmed down a bit after reaching peaks. “In January, the price of sugar in Europe was 855 euros per tonne. But the spot market price which had reached 1,000 euros in the summer [2023]fell to 700 euros per tonne », underlines Timothé Masson, economist at the CGB. This slight decline will inevitably result in a reduction in the price of beet which will be lifted in the fall. The historic record of 55 to 58 euros per tonne achieved during the 2023-2024 campaign by farmers should not be beaten.
Planters are therefore carefully monitoring any sign of destabilization of their market. And their eyes fell on Ukraine. Since the start of the war, the European market has opened the floodgates to Ukrainian sugar. “We went from a quota of 20,000 tonnes of Ukrainian sugar without customs duties before the war to imports of 400,000 tonnes in 2022-2023 and 750,000 tonnes expected for this campaign”, specifies Mr. Masson. Attracted by the high prices, the Ukrainians have, it is true, planted the coveted root with all their might.
The CGB therefore mobilized alongside the poultry and cereal sectors to ask Europe to put back barriers to entry. Sugar smells like powder. If the duty-free import agreement was renewed for a year, an emergency brake was introduced, from which sugar must benefit. Today, the quota has been set at 320,000 tonnes. In fact, Ukrainian sugar exports for the 2023-2024 campaign have already exceeded this threshold. Food manufacturers who are very hungry for white powder are campaigning for this opening of borders. The challenge for them: to reduce the price of sugar.
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