The sugar beet price for the 2021 growing season will be slightly higher than this year’s values. The base price for next year has been set at £20.30 per tonne, compared with the current £19.60 per tonne. Both these prices have no crown-tare deduction which, since the 2019 crop, has meant that growers get paid for the entire root of beet they deliver. From 2021 there will be a new sugar scale which will see farmers paid based directly on the sugar content of their beet. The NFU and British Sugar claim that, taken with the crown-tare change, this means that growers will get paid on 3.4% more tonnage than under the previous system. This means that the price is equivalent to around £21 per tonne in ‘old money’.
The market-related bonus will be retained. This will be triggered when the EU reference price for white sugar is above €375 per tonne, with growers getting 10% of the value above this level.
There will also be a three-year contracting option for the seasons 2021 to 2023. This will be at a fixed price of £21.18 per tonne. The market bonus under this contract will be triggered at €400 per tonne with the grower receiving 25% of the excess.
Adding to the pricing options will be a pilot scheme linked to the sugar futures market. This will be open to 100 growers in the first year who can allocate up to 10% of their contract this mechanism. Producers will be able to fix a price based on prevailing values on the sugar market.
Also for the first time in 2021, there will be a virus yellows disease compensation fund. This issue has become more prevalent with the ban of the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments. Under the scheme, a grower’s losses will start to be compensated if they deliver less than 90% of their contracted tonnage (i.e. the first 10% of lost yield acts as an excess). This is provided they plant a sufficient area and meet certain conditions. British Sugar will pay 45% of the value of the shortfall (with the compensation payment capped at a 35% yield loss).
Contract packs and offers should be received by growers at the start of September.