A plunge in sugar prices will hit earnings at Nordzucker this fiscal year, the German sugar refiner has said, adding its strong finances would help it to cope - and even expand - in a European industry crisis that might cripple others.
The European Union liberalised its sugar market in September, ending its system of guaranteed minimum prices and protected production quotas, giving producers freedom to expand and export more and linking EU prices to world markets.
But a worst-case scenario emerged, with European producers exposed to global prices which have fallen about 40 percent since early 2017 in an oversupplied world market.
