5 February 2026

Strategic transformation: Nordzucker ends sugar production in Slovakia

Nordzucker will discontinue sugar production in Trenčianská Teplá, Slovakia, after the 2025/2026 campaign and continue to operate the site as a Commercial & Logistics hub. This decision is the company’s response to a challenging market environment and the long-term decline in the profitability of beet sugar production at the Trenčianská Teplá site in Slovakia. The supply of the market in South-East Europe will continue to be ensured by the Commercial & Logistics hub. The closure of sugar production will inevitably lead to job cuts, affecting around half of the employees at the site.

Challenging conditions at the Trenčianská Teplá site

An analysis of recent years clearly shows that the economic conditions for sugar production at the Trenčianská Teplá site have deteriorated increasingly. Climatic challenges, pest infestations and plant diseases, higher production costs and a decrease in both the quantity and quality of available beet have led to a continuous decline in profitability. Growing demands for the decarbonisation of sugar production and limited opportunities for efficiency improvements have exacerbated this development.

Consistent implementation of the Fields for Growth strategy – intensification of existing excellence programmes

As part of its Fields for Growth strategic orientation, Nordzucker is pursuing the goal of positioning the Group for long-term profitability in a volatile market environment, further optimising cost structures and evaluating the economic efficiency of all its sites in Europe. “We are taking this decision with a view to the future and out of a sense of responsibility for the long-term stability and profitability of our company,” emphasises Lars Gorissen, Chief Executive Officer of Nordzucker AG. In view of the situation on the sugar market, with overcapacity and low margins, Nordzucker launched a comprehensive package of measures in 2025 and supplemented it in 2026. The company thus intends to secure its long-term profitability through its own efforts.

“With a view to the market, it is important to continuously optimise our plant structure. We have concentrated sugar production in Sweden at the Örtofta site and bundled liquid sugar production in Germany at the Nordstemmen site with the aim of adapting to market challenges and increasing our efficiency. The transformation of our Trenčianská Teplá site is a further step towards making our European production and logistics structure future-proof,” explains Alexander Godow, Chief Operating Officer of Nordzucker AG.