Hamburg, Nov 12 - Germany's sugar beet harvest is progressing well in favourable weather, and output is expected to be substantially above the country's EU production quota, German sugar industry association WVZ said on Wednesday.
"Overall we are satisfied with progress and results from tests so far," a WVZ spokesman said.
WVZ currently forecasts Germany's sugar beet crop in the current 2008/09 season at 23.9 million tonnes, down from 26.1 million tonnes last season.
The reduction is largely due to a fall in Germany's sugar beet plantings, to 369,000 hectares from 406,000 hectares last season.
A fall had been expected following the European Union's reforms aimed at curbing output in its heavily-subsidised sugar industry.
WVZ forecasts Germany will produce 3.67 million tonnes of refined sugar in 2008/09, down by about 400,000 tonnes from last season.
The WVZ currently forecasts Germany will produce 956,000 tonnes of refined sugar in 2008/09 over its EU sugar production quota of 2.71 million tonnes. Non-quota sugar cannot be sold to the food industry.
Along with the forecast 3.67 million tonnes of new output this year, a further 178,000 tonnes of unsold sugar from last season has been transferred into this season's production quota.
"Production over quota shows that producers believe there is a market for non-quota sugar for industrial use," the WVZ spokesman said.
"This largely means bioethanol production but also uses in the chemical industry. We do not have precise figures on the usage in the industrial sector but we believe the majority will be for bioethanol output."
The output forecast depends on sugar content in beets as they are harvested. Harvesting is currently underway and expected to be completed in mid to late January 2009.
"The beet sugar content is pleasingly high this year and has been up on the year the past few tests which is a positive," the spokesman said.
The sixth factory test on sugar beet delivered to refineries in Germany this season showed sugar content of 17.89 percent against 17.38 percent in the same test last year, the WVZ said.
About 46 percent of the expected beet crop has now been processed into sugar against 53 percent at this time last year.
But work was regarded as being on schedule as several German sugar refineries had closed following the EU sugar market reforms, the spokesman said.