New one-year sugar beet contract agreed for 2022.

NFU Sugar and British Sugar have announced a one-year sugar beet contract from 2022, including the continuation of the Virus Yellows assurance scheme and the futures-linked contract. Charlotte Cunningham reports.

The one-year contract for 2022 will pay a fixed price of £27 per adjusted tonne. Current multi-year contracted growers will have the option to upgrade to a fixed £25/adjusted t by contracting for an additional contract year. There will be no separate market-linked bonus. These prices are on a zero-crown tare basis, meaning growers are paid for the entire roots of beet they deliver.

The Virus Yellow (VY) crop assurance scheme introduced for 2021 will continue to compensate growers for a proportion of yield losses suffered where a grower has VY present in their crop.

In addition, NFU Sugar and British Sugar have agreed to continue the innovative futures-linked variable priced contract, giving growers the ability to make their own pricing decisions for a portion of their contract. This will now be open to all growers, who will have the option to allocate up to 10% of their tonnage onto this contract.

Futures-linked contracts will be available for a maximum of 30 days from the contracting window opening.

Offering returns

“Following another difficult negotiation, we have finally managed to agree terms with British Sugar,” said Michael Sly, NFU Sugar board chairman. “The substantial increase in the one-year contract price reflects the increased costs and risk sugar beet growers now face and recognises the fact that sugar beet must offer returns comparable with alternatives.

“After a successful pilot this year, the futures-linked variable priced contract will now be available to all UK sugar beet growers. This contract offers both growers and the processor the potential to lock in attractive prices, meaning all parties can benefit from it. Other countries around the EU are starting to follow our lead on this and I am sure that this type of contract will become increasingly common as EU countries modernise their thinking and practices.”