Suedzucker expects continued tough sugar market in new fiscal year

Suedzucker AG

21/05/2026 10:32

HAMBURG, May 21 (Reuters) - Suedzucker , Europe's largest sugar producer, on Thursday said it expected a continued depressed sugar market in its new 2026/27 fiscal year despite some recent improvements.

“In the sugar segment, for the 2026/27 financial year, we expect declining sugar production and sales volumes due to the already reduced sugar beet cultivation areas,” the company said in a statement ahead of an online conference presenting its annual results.

Weak sugar prices did not recover over the course of the 2025/26 financial year starting in March as a result of a better-than-expected harvest, it said. The company posted its full-year results for 2025/26 earlier on Thursday.

“We also do not expect any significant improvement in the current 2026/27 financial year,” it said. “Against this background, we anticipate a substantial overall decline in revenue compared with the previous year."

Sugar futures had risen because of higher crude oil after the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, but they again fell to a five-year low in April on ample global supplies.

Suedzucker said it expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation in its sugar sector to be in a range from a loss of 60 million euros ($69.76 million) to a profit of 40 million euros in 2026/27, versus a loss on the same basis of 17 million euros in 2025/26.

($1 = 0.8601 euros)

 (Reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)

 ((michael.j.hogan@thomsonreuters.com ; +49 172 671 36 54; Reuters Messaging: michael.hogan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))