The growers of the Roye and Étrépagny sugar refineries discovered the price of 2023 beets on June 21. “For our growers in Picardy and Normandy, profitability is there,” comments Thomas Nuytten, beet director of Saint Louis Sucre.
The price of beets at 16°S with a 7% collar flat rate reached 54.08 euros per tonne (i.e. 50.30 €/t at 16° for whole beets, which is the payment system adopted by Saint Louis Sucre).
These good beet prices are explained by the indexation on the European sugar market.
Saint Louis Sucre’s commercial strategy is in fact entirely oriented towards the French and European markets, two markets which have been more profitable than those of ethanol or export.
Concretely, the contract that Saint Louis Sucre is based on is based on a guaranteed minimum price and a price supplement. The latter was negotiated in June 2022 during the meeting of the Value Distribution Commission (CRV) which brings together eight representatives of the planters.
The sugar manufacturer details the calculation as follows: “based on a reference sugar price from the European Union Observatory Zone 2, the average of which for October 2023-February 2024 is greater than €600/tonne, the contract provides for a guaranteed minimum price of €36.47/t at 16° with the payment of a price supplement for growers. In accordance with negotiations with CRV grower representatives, this supplement reaches €13.33/t at 16° whole beets this year. It was paid on June 28, 2024.”
As for the future 2025-2026 contract, it will be submitted to the planters in CRV for dispatch in September 2024.
Decarbonization of factories
Like other sugar producers, Saint Louis Sucre has implemented a major investment program to decarbonize its factories.
Thus, in Étrépagny (Eure), a new “mixer – cossette preparer” will come into operation in September. Similarly, a washing water methanization unit will recover energy to supply the boilers, with the key to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The Roye sugar refinery (Somme) will see the commissioning of the new evaporation.
Since 2018, Saint Louis Sucre’s investments have been carried out in three stages: reducing energy consumption, converting energy and finally, electrifying the factories. The French factories benefit from investments by the Südzucker group, which has allocated a total of €257 million for its 23 sugar factories for the 2023-2024 financial year.
The group’s decarbonization trajectory validated by the SBTI (Science-based Targets Initiative) organization aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50%
by 2050 compared to 2018. For upstream agriculture, the objective is a reduction of 30% between 2018 and 2030.
Regenerative agriculture
To decarbonize the agricultural upstream, Saint Louis Sucre is counting on regenerative agriculture, which concerns 80 planters in 2024. “In 2030, we are targeting 900 volunteer planters,” announces Thomas Nuytten. Our mission is to support them, to test innovative practices in order to limit risk-taking as much as possible.
The Saint Louis Sucre crop inspectors are currently receiving a diploma course in agroecology at the UniLaSalle institute in Beauvais. This year, routes with low-carbon fertilizers and the use of biostimulants are being tested with pilot planters.
