“The substantially higher prices of raw material and the lower sale prices of the key products, especially of the starch-based ones, resulted in a substantial drop in operating income,” its officials explain in the report.
Local farmers harvested 750,000 tons of sugar beet last year, a raw material Agrana, too, uses, 12% more than in 2011. Sugar beet production amounted to EUR29 million, 11% higher than in the year before, according to Eurostat data.
A simple calculation based on the harvest and its value show average sugar beet prices remained relatively constant in 2012 compared with 2011 at EUR38/ton.
Although productivity went down last year, Austrian-held Agrana boosted sales 26%. Its business in Romania accounts for 9% of the total in European Union, but is the third largest on the continent after Austria and Hungary.
The Romanian sugar industry has been driven by multinationals in the last few years, with Agrana, Lemarco and Zahar Ludus as the top players.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)