Sugar beet sector warns of crisis amid rising imports and shrinking cultivation
Belgium’s sugar beet industry is voicing concern as producers warn of shrinking cultivation and mounting pressure from European trade policy. Sugar refinery Tiense Suiker has announced it will need a quarter less cultivation area next year, while the country’s second-largest producer, Iscal Sugar, is urging farmers to plant sugar beets “selectively” in order to avoid overproduction.
The sector federation CBB lays the responsibility at the feet of EU policymakers. “If the European Commission continues to prioritise free trade agreements like those with Mercosur countries and Ukraine, European sugar risks being increasingly replaced by sugar imported from regions with less stringent production standards,” the organisation said in a statement on Friday.
Sugar beet cultivation remains a significant pillar of Belgian agriculture: Belgium is among the top five sugar producers in Europe, and within the category of industrial crops, sugar beet is second only to potatoes.
"European sugar risks being increasingly replaced by sugar imported from regions with less stringent production standards"
Around 5,500 agricultural companies still grow sugar beets. Yet the pressures on the sector are deepening. “In 20 years, two-thirds of beet growers will have dropped out. The cultivated area in 2026 is expected to be half of what it was in 2004: less than 45,000 hectares,” CBB warns.
Imports undercutting European growers
CBB chair Hendrik Vandamme argues that the limits of viable production have been reached. “While other countries like Brazil or Thailand are protecting their sugar industries, Europe is not. On the contrary, the Mercosur agreements would allow more imports," he says. "The agreement with Ukraine even provides for four times more imports.”
The federation is calling for an urgent shift in EU strategy. “Europe really needs to listen to the voice of beet growers,” it says.
Switching to other crops offers little relief, Vandamme adds. “Trump’s import tariffs have also reduced demand for potatoes and vegetables." The consequences, CBB notes, ripple far beyond farmers themselves, affecting suppliers, contractors and the wider local economy.
Tiense Suikerraffinaderij in Tienen © BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND
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