Suedzucker reports third-quarter loss on weak sugar market (updated)

Suedzucker AG

14/01/2025 07:21

(Adds detail on price fall, spokesperson comment)
       HAMBURG, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Europe's largest sugar
producer Suedzucker  SZUG.DE  on Tuesday reported a quarterly
operating loss, with its core sugar division in the red on
falling prices and market turbulence following the war in
Ukraine.
    Suedzucker reported a group operating loss in the third
quarter to end November 2024 of its 2024/25 fiscal year of 33
million euros ($33.81 million), down from operating profit of
268 million euros in the same year-ago quarter. 
    Suedzucker warned in October its third-quarter earnings
would decline, partly because the EU is permitting extra sugar
imports from Ukraine as part of its support for the country
after the Russian invasion, generating competition for EU
producers.
    It on Tuesday confirmed that group operating profit in its
full 2024/25 year will fall to between 175 and 275 million euros
from 947 million in the previous fiscal year.
    "The main reason for the loss is the depressed EU sugar
market with lower prices,” a Suedzucker spokesperson said. "One
important factor causing lower EU sugar prices was the decision
by the EU to allow massive duty-free sugar imports from Ukraine
to support the country during the war."
        “The current EU duty free volume limit for Ukraine ends
in June 2025. Further EU measures are not yet decided and remain
unclear for the time being."
  
        EU average sugar prices fell from 856 euros a metric ton
in December 2023 to 619 euros in October 2024.
  
        Ukraine exported about 495,000 tons of sugar to the EU
in 2023, it said. Exports were restricted to 263,000 tons in
2024 and 109,000 tons in the first five months of 2025.
  
        Suedzucker expects its sugar sector to make a full-year
operating loss between 50-150 million euros against an operating
profit of 558 million last year. 
  
        “The latest improvement in world market volume
expectations could offer EU price support going forward,” the
spokesperson added.
  

 (Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by Rachel More and)
 ((michael.j.hogan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 172 671 36 54;
Reuters Messaging:
michael.hogan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))