Sugar yields in the Netherlands have sustained a peak of 17% this campaign despite unfavorable weather conditions in the country, according to the latest weekly figures published by Dutch producer Suiker Unie.
Last week also marked a slowdown in harvesting, as only 4,000 hectares of beet was harvested compared with a previous high of 7,000 hectares.
"That is less than the previous three weeks when an average of nearly of 7,000 hectares per week was cleared. This obviously has to do with bad weather," said Suiker Unie.
The week prior, Dutch producers were left with a total of 10,000 hectares worth of beet for harvesting. The figure now stands at 6,500 hectares, which means that based on current average the beet crop in the Netherlands will be fully harvested within the next two weeks.
Last week the Dutch producer said that "a lot of rain that has fallen, locally more than 75mm", has had an affect on the harvesting speed of beets, however it is now unlikely to affect the sugar content or quality of the beet my large amounts. "The weather isn't great but now it is too late in the harvest for the weather to have any substantial affect on sugar yields," said a source in France last week.
Last week was marked by only one of the previous highest yielding regions to sustain its position at the top for highest level of sugar content per beet crop. Zuid-Limburg reached a new peak of 17.6%, a 0.01% increase on the week before.
Meanwhile, the wider Groningen area remains as the one of the highest yielding region at an average of 16.9%, down from last week's figure by 0.17%, the data show.
These figures are an improvement on the very first yield figures of the campaign in the Netherlands, which stood at an average of 15.4% for the entire country. The average beet yield for the country has now remained sustained an average of 16.95% over the latest month.
Overall, the harvest and the crop is running as planned, and given the time of the year most expectations have been met thus far.
Temperatures are currently forecast to be higher than normal for this time of the year in many beet producing regions of Europe, especially in the Netherlands, where, over the next 14 days temperatures will hover between 5 and 12 degrees Celsius.
