Sugar beet production in the EU is closely watched as sugar prices in the bloc are already trading near record highs following a smaller harvest and increased refining costs last year.

In France, despite promises of higher prices for their beets, farmers cut the planted area in fear of crop damage due to a ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides because they have been found to be toxic to bees.

The French 2023 area is estimated to have shrunk by 7% to a 14-year low of 370,000 hectares, Timothe Masson, an analyst with French growers group CGB said.

Yields would likely be reduced by late sowing and were further at risk if pests that have attacked fields in many parts of the country were infected by the yellow virus, he said. The disease caused a 30% fall in yields in 2020.

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