2023-12-29 06:50:00
The rainy weather of recent weeks has impacted agriculture and more particularly… beets.
The rain has reduced the quality of these vegetables used to make sugar with the result that the factories are now operating slowly. Every day, 11,000 tonnes of beets are dumped in front of the Tirlemont factory: this is 7,000 tonnes less than usual. At first glance, these vegetables have no defects, but inside, the quality is not there.
Slow production
“Beets with a low sugar content and a lot of soil give much poorer preservation“, notes Guy Paternoster, executive director of the Tirlemont refinery. A sign that does not deceive: the mud which surrounds the beets. 8% of soil in each delivery is more than double than in a normal year.
Another consequence of the humidity of recent weeks: each beet contains less sugar and will therefore yield less juice. “One of our installations was therefore shut down“All this has repercussions a few kilometers away, in Wanze, in the sugar factory.”The problem is the formation of a sort of gum on the filtration fabrics which will filter the juice and therefore this slows down the passage of the juice, or even stops it completely.“.
Currently, sugar production is 1,800 tonnes per day, which is a third less than usual.
beet sugar weather
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