Tis year, the company Sunoko, a member of the MK Group, will produce more than 200,000 tons of sugar beet in its three processing centers. Although the analyzes in August pointed to a record year in terms of sugar yield per hectare, the situation with the gummy roots of sugar beet in Banat and Srem this results in an average five-year yield. Thanks to the sugar factories in Vrbas, Pećinci and Kovačica, Sunoko will meet all the needs of the domestic market for sugar this year, while a part will be exported.
„Sunoko continues to lead the sugar industry in the region, and the business strategy of our Company is to develop as a net exporter in the wider region in the future, especially in Western Europe. This year’s Queen of the Fields was sown on a much larger area and despite all the challenges we faced, we will produce 60,000 tons of sugar more than last year. This positive trend is the result of our long-term partnership with primary producers, the measures of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and the support provided by Sunoko to producers.”, Slobodan Košutić, Director of the Company Sunoko said.
As the largest sugar producer in the region, the Company traditionally hosted around 250 partners at the Sheraton Hotel in Novi Sad, who had the opportunity to hear experts in the field of sugar beet protection and mineral nutrition, but also about the latest trends on the challenges of sugar beet production in conditions of climate change, problems in processing, sugar beet protection and new possibilities for weed control. This year’s focus of the Research and Development Center of the Company Sunoko was on solving the sugar beet gummy root problem, which the sugar beet producers encountered this year, which had consequences on the yield.
„The Sunoko Research and Development Center continuously deals with the topics of protection and nutrition of sugar beet crops, with the aim of improving yields while optimizing costs and taking care of the soil from an ecological aspect. We follow world trends and this year, in our analytical laboratory for testing soil and leaf samples, we analyzed leaf samples for the content of macro and microelements for the first time. As the choice of active substances that are allowed in weed protection is increasingly limited, we are also working on testing new concepts of protection”, Saša Rajačić, Director of the Research and Development Center pointed out.
As a reminder, in September, Sunoko came out with the conditions for contracting sugar beet production for 2024. In addition to the offered price of 47 euros per ton of pure sugar beet, the company provided the producers with a bonus for the achieved digestion, which is higher than the digestion of Sunoko, half of the seeds for free, as well as an advance of 600 euros per hectare. The Research and Development Center and the Raw Materials Sector of the Company traditionally provide support in the field of professional and advisory assistance to producers, with the aim of achieving higher productivity and quality of beets while reducing production costs, while Sunoko places quality raw materials on the most favorable terms.
