The Importance of Sugar Beet in the European Market
Sugar cane accounts for 80% of the sugar we consume, while sugar beet generates the remaining 20%. This plant also plays an increasingly important role in the bioethanol market, representing 9% of sugar beet production in 2017.
Global Sugar Beet Production
In 2014, the leading global producers of sugar beets were:
France : 37.845 tons
Russia : 33.513 tons
Germany : 29.748 tons
The Transforming Italian Market
In 2016/2017, European sugar beet growers produced 16,8 million tonnes of sugar.
In Italy, the cooperative COPROB, the last major producer of sugar beet in the country, produces 284,000 tonnes a year in its plants in Minerbio and Pontelongo. It is undergoing a process of diversification with cane sugar refining, the conversion of former refineries for use with bioplastics and the construction of a biomass thermoelectric plant.
Key Figures for COPROB :
- 56% of national quota
- 7.000 associates
- 202 million euros in revenue in 2016
- 33.000 hectares of Sugar Beets, representing 5% of the total area managed by the cooperative
- 1 million hectares of crops
