British Sugar confirms 2011 beet price
Sugar beet growers have been offered a price of £23.60/t for next year’s crop.
The price, set out in a 2011 contract letter sent to farmers today (28 June), is some way below the £26/t paid for the 2010 crop and £1/t less than people had expected when British Sugar announced details of its new contract at the end of May.
The new pricing mechanism takes into account forward cereal prices and currency exchange rates during a given period (1-14 June) in order to set the final contract offer. British Sugar said the recent weakness of the euro had resulted in a lower price than it originally estimated last month.
At the end of May, £1 bought €1.18, but this increased to over €1.21 during the first half of June.
British Sugar said the price for contracted beet tonnage was now fixed and would not be subject to any further changes.
Growers have been given until Friday 13 August 2010 to return completed offer forms.
