Suedzucker's second quarter earnings slumped 82% due to a weak sugar market

Suedzucker, Europe's largest producer of sugar, reported Thursday a 82% drop in its quarterly operating profit due to the continued weakness on EU sugar markets.

The German company reported that its operating profit for the second quarter, June-August 2025/26, was 20 million euros (23.29 millions). This is down from the 114 million euro profit of the same quarter last year.

The report said that cost reductions alone were not sufficient to compensate for the low sugar prices in Europe, while exports fell as well.

Suedzucker has confirmed that it will reduce its forecast for the full year 2025/26 to between 100 and 200 millions euros. This is down from 350millions last year.

Suedzucker’s core sugar industry suffered a loss of 33 millions euros for the second quarter of this year, compared to a profit of 13million euros during the second quarter of last year.

EU data shows that the average EU sugar price fell from 775 euros per metric ton to 534 euros in July of 2025, despite protests from farmers.

A spokesperson for Suedzucker said that "EU sugar prices are under pressure, and the market is still challenging." This is despite EU import restrictions on Ukraine sugar. "The EU plans to increase the allowed import volume of Ukraine to 100,000 (metric tons)."

Suedzucker stated that despite the difficult market conditions, they still expect a loss for the sugar industry in the second half.

The spokesperson said, "We have reduced the area of sugar beet plants this season in order to compensate for that. Other European producers have also done this."

The beet crop is growing better than expected, leading to higher yields. This could offset some of the benefits from the reduced area.

(source: Reuters)