An arbitration court must now decide whether Nordic Sugar's new testing equipment has resulted in beet growers receiving too low a payment for sugar beets delivered in 2024. This is reported by the Danish Sugar Beet Growers, who filed the arbitration case on 20 May, after a long negotiation process ended without result.
The conflict has been ongoing since 2024, when Nordic Sugar introduced new Rüpro samplers at its factories in Nakskov and Nykøbing Falster. According to the Danish Sugar Beet Growers, this resulted in both the purity and sugar content of the beets being measured lower than before - and thus triggered a lower price.
127 million kroner at stake
The dispute has been known for several months. Already at the Danish Sugar Beet Growers' general meeting in March, the conflict was reviewed in detail. It was stated that the association believes that their members are collectively missing out on 127 million kroner over the years 2024, 2025, and partly 2026 - half of which concerns the beets already delivered in 2024.
The disagreement stems from the measurements that form the basis for the price of the beets. The samplers assess both the purity and sugar content of the beets, and with the new equipment, many suppliers experienced that the results were lower than expected - even though the weather in the autumn of 2024 was optimal for harvesting.
Two rounds of so-called parallel tests - conducted together with Nordic Sugar - confirmed according to the growers, that the new machines systematically measure too low on both purity and sugar content.
Negotiations broken down
Since September last year, Danish Sugar Beet Growers have tried to find a solution in dialogue with Nordic Sugar, but without success. The association states that it has thoroughly documented the case and continuously urged Nordic Sugar to enter into negotiations. It has not succeeded, and now the case is being handled by the Arbitration Court.
- It would have been better for all parties if we could have reached an agreement on something, but we haven't, says Troels Frandsen, chairman of Danish Sugar Beet Growers.
Previous assessment: Growers stand strong
Already in March, Henning Otte Hansen, senior advisor at the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen, assessed that the beet growers stood strong in the case.
- They are used to standing together and working together. Agriculture really has a strength there, he said at the time.
He also pointed out that the growers can ultimately choose to use their land for something else, while Nordic Sugar's factories are dependent on sugar beets.
Henning Otte Hansen described the conflict as a classic conflict of interest, where both parties have a lot at stake. According to him, Nordic Sugar may have an interest in sticking to the new measuring equipment to avoid similar demands in the future.
Nordic Sugar has not publicly commented on the conflict. The producer also chose to be absent from the beet growers' general meeting in March.
