A claim of 117.9 million kroner is currently with Nordic Sugar. It comes from Danish Sugar Beet Growers, who supply the beets that the sugar factories in Nakskov and Nykøbing convert into the sugar we know.
The dispute is about Nordic Sugar replacing old sampling machines with new ones, but the beet growers believe that the new machines are not accurate enough. This affects the price of the beets. The samplers are machines that test the incoming beets - partly for purity and partly for sugar content. These measurements determine how much the sugar beets are worth to the farmers.
The mechanical samplers determine the quality and sugar content of the sugar beets and are therefore crucial for the farmers' income. According to the beet growers, they have been cheated out of 66.5 million kroner in 2024 and 51.5 million kroner in 2025. This is the difference between the results from the old and the new samplers. Parallel tests have shown a difference in purity of between 2.30 and 2.87 percent and a lower sugar content of 0.19 percent.
Unstable and Inadequate
Just before Christmas, Nordic Sugar received the claim and was informed
that the case had been sent to arbitration.
The new samplers were put into use in the spring of 2024 and have
since been the subject of a dispute between the parties.
-It has been a case that has dragged on, says
Troels Frandsen, chairman of Danish Sugar Beet Growers.
The case stems from great dissatisfaction with the new
Rupro samplers, which Nordic Sugar introduced in 2024 without prior acceptance from
the beet growers. According to Danish Sugar Beet Growers, the new samplers have proven to be
unstable and have provided test results that do not match the
actual purities of the delivered beets. Early in the campaign, many growers experienced
either missing samples or samples with significant deviations, which has had
a negative impact on the settlement. According to the growers, the measured purities
should be higher, especially in light of the good harvesting conditions in the 2024 season.
According to the industry agreement, the arbitration decision is final and cannot be appealed. The outcome will have implications for both the 2024 and 2025 campaigns, as the terms for 2025 were established based on the assumption of the previous sampling methods.
Cold air between the parties
Danish Sugar Beet Growers maintain the demand that the growers should be paid for the actual value of the delivered beets - no more and no less.
Now there is cold air between the parties, which culminated on Monday morning at the sugar growers' general meeting in Sakskøbing. Here, Troels Frandsen began by announcing that neither CEO Jannik Olejas nor other representatives from Nordic Sugar would attend.
The Numbers Behind the Dispute
The first tests showed a difference of 2.87 percent in purity and 0.13 percent in sugar content.
The next tests showed a difference in purity of 2.30 percent and 0.25 percent in sugar content.
The Demand:
2024 campaign: 66.5 million DKK (average approx. 1,900 DKK/ha).
2025 campaign: 51.4 million DKK (average approx. 1,700 DKK/ha).
Total demand of 117.9 million DKK.
This prompted sighs, whispers, and head shaking among the 250 beet growers present. Here, they know the numbers well and are aware that Nordic Sugar last year had a turnover of 3.5 billion kroner with a profit of 721 million kroner.
Should have come
Jannik Olejas is the new director of Nordic Sugar and started in the position on January 1 after several years as director of the Mackay sugar factory in Australia, which, like Nordic Sugar, is owned by German Nordzucker. Seats were reserved for Olejas and two factory directors, and the program included a presentation from Olejas about his experiences from Australia. No one can remember the last time Nordic Sugar was absent from a beet growers' general meeting.
-I think they should have come and listened to our members' experiences, says Troels Frandsen.
The beet growers feel they are being stalled with talk and experience that Nordic Sugar has not wanted to find a solution. The association has tried to find a solution in dialogue with Nordic Sugar. Already in the spring of 2024, Danish Sugar Beet Growers requested that parallel tests be conducted to examine the effect of the new samplers. However, Nordic Sugar rejected this request. It was only in November that they agreed to parallel tests, which confirmed the growers' suspicion of errors in the measurements. Despite this, Nordic Sugar has not fully corrected the settlement.
After long negotiations, a partial agreement on the missing samples was reached on December 6. The agreement involved a correction on purity, sugar content, and outliers (very deviating samples). However, it was not possible to reach an agreement on the biggest part of the problem, namely the low measured purities. This resulted in the claim of 117.9 million kroner, which was made just before Christmas.
The deadline for a response is next week, so an amicable solution is still possible. But after Monday's general meeting, there are not many beet growers who believe in it.
