Nordzucker Post 6/2026 - 13 October 2026
Market remains challenging: signs of a slight recovery
The international sugar markets saw significant movement in August. Rising sugar prices on the world market and lower harvest forecasts in Europe are altering market dynamics. At the same time, the sector’s economic challenges persist. For Nordzucker, it is crucial to continue consistently strengthening competitiveness and efficiency.
Since August, international sugar prices have risen significantly. The main drivers have been Brazil and India: falling yields have altered expectations regarding the global supply of raw sugar. Added to this are extreme weather conditions, which are weighing on harvest prospects in several key growing regions. Despite lower sugar production than last year, Brazil remains an important stabilising factor for the world market due to its high volumes. Despite a temporary slight fall in prices during September, a trend towards rising world market prices is evident.
Europe’s harvest expected to be significantly lower than last year
In Europe, drought and heatwaves are dampening expectations for the current beet harvest. The European Commission now expects sugar production to be around 13.4 million tonnes – significantly less than last year. Key growing regions in the south and west of Germany, as well as in France, are particularly affected. “This year’s weather has posed major challenges for our growers in many regions of Europe. It is therefore even more encouraging that stocks have developed positively overall and that the market environment is becoming increasingly stable. For our growing regions, we currently expect a slightly above-average harvest. This will provide a solid foundation for reliably supplying our customers with the agreed quantities and qualities in the coming marketing year as well. The key now will be to bring in the harvest successfully and to carry out the campaign safely, efficiently and without accidents, together with our growing partners and staff. Developments to date demonstrate once again how important close cooperation along the entire value chain is to ensuring a high level of supply capability, even under demanding conditions,” says Alexander Godow, COO of Nordzucker.
Nordzucker improves competitiveness and profitability
Nordzucker is continuing its chosen course. Adjustments to the plant structure, more efficient processes and consistent cost optimisation are intended to increase resilience to market cycles and strengthen long-term competitiveness.
This solid financial foundation provides the necessary scope for action. It enables the company to continue driving forward its transformation and strategic growth. At the same time, the measures introduced to improve earnings are beginning to show results.
“Market conditions remain challenging. However, we are seeing the first positive market signals, although these will only be reflected in our financial results after a time lag and will therefore have a very limited impact on the 2026/2027 annual accounts. It remains crucial that we consistently implement our internal measures and continue to adapt our cost structures to the changed environment. We continue to expect a loss for the 2026/2027 financial year. This will be further exacerbated by one-off effects arising from the restructuring, in particular from the planned cessation of sugar production at the Nakskov plant in Denmark. At the same time, we can see that our cost-optimisation measures are taking effect and that we are consistently improving our cost structure with long-term benefits. Coupled with the first positive market signals, this forms the prerequisite for successfully navigating a volatile market environment and returning to profitability in the coming financial year under our own steam,” says CFO Alexander Bott.
