Sugar industry
The sugar industry includes companies that deal with the processing of vegetable raw materials containing sugar , in particular sugar beet and sugar cane . Traditionally, the resulting primary products are then called cane sugar or beet sugar, depending on the raw material used . There is no chemical difference between sugar from sugar beet and sugar cane. With its end product, sugar, the sugar industry produces one of the most chemically pure products - the sugar content in the dry matter is almost 100%.
Occasionally the sugar industry also includes companies that build the plants used in sugar production, for example the sugar centrifuges.
Processing products
The primary end product in the processing of sugar beet and sugar in a sugar factory, the granulated sugar ( sucrose ), also in large quantities as by-products are usable molasses and in the case of the sugar beet processing beet pulp or in the case of sugar cane processing bagasse recovered. In the campaign the harvested are sugar beets to the sugar factory transported and processed there.
The processing of the residual components from sugar production is becoming increasingly important. While previously only the leached beet pulp could be used as inexpensive animal feed for pigs , for example, valuable ingredients in sugar beet and sugar cane have long been recognized, which are present in smaller quantities than sugar , but can also be successfully obtained on an industrial scale from the remaining components , for example Amino acids and betaine .
customer
In the industrialized countries as well as in the countries of the Third World, approx. 80% of the sugar produced is used commercially, i.e. not given directly to end consumers as food. These amounts of sugar are used in particular in the production of food, for example in bakeries, in the confectionery industry and in fruit and vegetable processing for sweetening and preservation purposes. The beverage and pharmaceutical industries also use sugar as a raw material.
The most important sugar producing nations
The three most important sugar producers worldwide are Brazil , India and the People's Republic of China , the most important producer countries in Europe are France , Germany and Poland (see table).
| rank | country | Production (in million t ) |
rank | country | Production (in million t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Brazil
|
24.8 | 9 |
 Germany
|
4.2 |
| 2 |
 India
|
22.1 | 10 |
 Pakistan
|
4th |
| 3 |
 People's Republic of China
|
11.1 | 11 |
 Cuba
|
3.8 |
| 4th |
 United States
|
8th | 12 |
 South Africa
|
2.6 |
| 5 |
 Thailand
|
7.3 | 13 |
 Colombia
|
2.6 |
| 6th |
 Australia
|
5.4 | 14th |
 Philippines
|
2.1 |
| 7th |
 Mexico
|
4.9 | 15th |
 Indonesia
|
2.1 |
| 8th |
 France
|
4.4 | 16 |
 Poland
|
2 |
(Source: The world in numbers. In: Handelsblatt , 2005)
The largest sugar factory in the world for the production of cane sugar is the Kenana Sugar Company in Sudan . The factory uses the irrigation areas of the Jazira project and is located about 250 kilometers south of Khartoum near Kusti . In 2003 production was over 400,000 tons per year. It is also considered to be the most efficient sugar factory in the world, surrounded by the world's largest sugar cane plantation.
Sugar industry in Brazil
The Brazilian sugar industry is based on sugar cane; Brazil is the largest sugar cane producer in the world. The share of global sugar production in 2003/2004 was about 1/6. Brazil produced around 24.4 million tons of sugar in 2003/2004. Brazil's sugar industry plans to expand production significantly.
In Brazil, however, not only is sugar made from sugar cane, the production of bioethanol is also noteworthy. With an output of 40 million m³ (2004), Brazil ranks second in the world in bioethanol production behind the USA . In 2007, the sugar cane harvest in Brazil was 558 million tonnes, a growth of 17.62% compared to 2006. The forecast for 2008 is 607 million Tons of which 89% (540 million tons) are used for the production of sugar and ethanol, the other 11% are used for the production of cachaça , amorphous sugar (rapadura), as fodder and as seeds.
Sugar industry in the European Union
Sugar is produced in 18 countries in the European Union . Most of the modern sugar factories for processing sugar beet are now in Poland , Germany and France . Between 2005 and 2010 alone, 83 sugar factories were closed in the EU. Today around 180,000 people in the EU are directly or indirectly employed in the sugar industry.
| country | Sugar yield t / ha |
Sugar production t white sugar value |
|---|---|---|
|
France
|
12.5 | 4,526,414 (of which 268,995 in the overseas departments ) |
|
Germany
|
9.5 | 3,442,683 |
|
Poland
|
7.3 | 1,432,529 |
 United Kingdom
|
10.7 | 995,000 |
 Netherlands
|
12.3 | 873.130 |
 Belgium , Luxembourg
|
11.7 | 686,550 |
 Italy
|
8.8 | 554,530 |
 Spain
|
11.4 | 528.837 |
 Czech Republic
|
8.5 | 458.906 |
 Denmark
|
11.6 | 453.395 |
 Austria
|
9.9 | 444.264 |
 Sweden
|
7.3 | 285,450 |
 Slovakia
|
7.5 | 129,930 |
 Romania
|
5.3 | 123.664 |
 Hungary
|
8.8 | 120,500 |
 Lithuania
|
6.7 | 100,566 |
 Finland
|
5.3 | 80.273 |
 Greece
|
5.7 | 77,182 |
 Portugal
|
k. A. | 1,300 |
| total | 10.0 | 15.315.103 |
Sugar maker
| Companies | country | Market share |
|---|---|---|
| Südzucker |
Germany
|
24.8% |
| Nordzucker |
Germany
|
15.4% |
| British Sugar (ABF) |
United Kingdom
|
12.1% |
| Tereos |
France
|
11.7% |
| Koninklijk Coöperatie Cosun (Royal Cosun) |
Netherlands
|
7.0% |
| Pfeifer & Langen |
Germany
|
6.6% |
| Cristal Union |
France
|
4.5% |
| Krajowa Spółka Cukrowa (Polski Cukier) |
Poland
|
4.2% |
| Groupe Vermandoise |
France
|
3.2% |
| Other companies | 10.6% |
Sugar industry in Germany
The considerable competitive pressure on the European and world market has led to a strong concentration of the companies involved. While around 1900 the sugar industry in Germany alone still consisted of hundreds of smaller "joint-stock sugar companies", which mostly owned only one or a few sugar factories and often belonged to the supplying farmers, in the meantime these have essentially merged into three larger German companies, namely the Südzucker AG , based in Mannheim , the Nordzucker AG , headquartered in Braunschweig and Pfeifer & Langen , based in Cologne . According to the articles of association, the shares in Nordzucker AG still predominantly belong to the farmers whose sugar beets are processed in the company's sugar factories. Pfeifer & Langen is still family-owned today.
In 2009/10, 3.126 million tons of sugar were sold in Germany, of which 85.8 percent was processed sugar for industry and crafts and 14.2 percent as household sugar in the form of refined sugar, powdered sugar, lump sugar, rock candy and other types, mainly via the Grocery sells.
Consumption of processing sugar in Germany:
- 19.0% beverages
- 18.4% confectionery
- 7.5% long-life baked goods
- 5.2% jams and canned fruit
- 4.7% dairy products and ice cream
- 1.9% bakeries, confectioners
- 29.1% others
The number of sugar factories in Germany has fallen sharply over the past forty years, as it is much more efficient to produce more sugar in fewer sugar factories. Then there is the transport logistics: Today's tractors and the increasing use of trucks in the past few years in contrast to farm deliveries allow the beets to be delivered to factories more than 100 km away in an acceptable time and in larger quantities. B. from Schleswig-Holstein to the Uelzen sugar factory of Nordzucker AG. In 2006 there were still 25 operating sugar factories in Germany, compared to around 500 to 600 before the First World War. There are only three large sugar companies in Germany ( Nordzucker , Südzucker , Pfeifer & Langen ) and the Dutch company Suiker Unie with a plant in Anklam . The last sugar factory Jülich (Westzucker) organized as a cooperative was taken over by Pfeifer and Langen in 2007. The processing capacity in modern beet sugar factories reaches up to 15,000 tonnes of beets per 24 hours. The capacity of the sugar factory in Uelzen is even up to. 20,000 t of beets / 24 h. The campaign lasts approximately 100 days in mainland Europe, up to 140 days in the UK and up to 270 days in the USA.
Sugar industry in Austria
The largest sugar producer in Austria is Agrana Beteiligungs-AG, which in addition to sugar also produces starch, fruit preparations and fruit juice concentrates as well as bioethanol. She operates the sugar factories in Tulln and Siebenbrunn / Leopoldsdorf here .
Agrana is also active in many other European countries and operates other sugar factories in the Czech Republic , Slovakia , Hungary , Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina .
Sugar industry in Switzerland
In Switzerland, Schweizer Zucker AG (SZU) is the only sugar producer with sugar factories in Aarberg in the canton of Bern and in Frauenfeld in the canton of Thurgau .
Web links
- European Commission: Information on the sugar market
- Trade Association of the Sugar Industry (de)
- Austrian Sugar Association (at)
Individual evidence
- ^ Sudanese Embassy: Industry ( Memento of December 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Miracle of sugar in the desert. worldreport-ind.com .
- ^ Sudan, securing its future in sugar , November 1, 2005.
- ↑ LME Aktuell - November 19, 2004 .
- ↑ Greenpeace market check, viewed January 18, 2017 ( Memento of November 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Folha Online - Dinheiro - Produção de álcool e de açúcar baterá recorde em 2008, prevê Conab - 29/04/2008 .
- ↑ Top-Agrar Österreich (found on July 25, 2010).
- ↑ LebensmittelZeitung: Top 9 Sugar Manufacturers Europe 2011 ( Memento from September 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).