The sugar beet harvest in France will decrease by 30% due to drought and diseases. Cristal Union is revising its forecasts.

The second largest sugar manufacturer in France, Cristal Union, predicts that this year the sugar beet harvest will decrease by a significant 30% due to diseases and drought. This information is reported by Successful Farming, a favorable farming activity, citing "Ukrtsukor."

The spread of aphids and viral yellows has caused serious damage to sugar beet crop rotations in some regions of France (the largest sugar producer in the European Union), while the summer drought has exacerbated the situation.

Some factories are postponing the start of production to allow the harvest in the most affected areas to recover.

However, Olivier de Boa, the chairman of the cooperative group, expects that the volume of sugar beet processed by Cristal Union will decrease by 20-30%, compared to last year's even earlier forecasted reduction of 10-15%, which he announced at the beginning of the harvesting season in September.

Last month, the French Ministry of Agriculture reduced the forecast for sugar beet production by 1.7 million tons — to 30.5 million tons, which is 20% lower than last year.

In response, the French government proposed to allow sugar beet producers to use pesticides that were previously banned to protect bees producing honey.

Boa stated that Cristal Union's profit forecast for the current financial year has also been affected by the coronavirus crisis, and now the company is expected to have an EBITDA of 150 million euros (175.3 million dollars), compared to the previous forecast of 200 million euros.

The transition to producing alcohol for disinfectants during the pandemic has reduced two-thirds of the lost biofuel sales.

The group hopes to restore its net profit after experiencing a loss last year due to expenses related to closing factories following the decrease in sugar prices.