"At the current price level, there is hardly a sugar company in Europe which can still produce at a break-even," a spokesman for the EU's number two producer Nordzucker said.

The EU abolished limits on sugar beet production at the end of September 2017, dramatically boosting output and paving the way for the EU to become a net exporter for the first time in more than a decade.

The rise in EU production has come at a time when appetite for sugar is declining in the increasingly health-conscious trading bloc, throwing supplies onto a world market already awash with the sweetener.

Britain's sugar tax on soft drinks came into effect today, a move that will lead to some higher prices as the country seeks to battle childhood obesity.

The tax, announced in March 2016, has already cut sugar content in drinks by 45 million kg per year, Britain's Treasury said, as over 50% of manufacturers have reformulated their products to be below the levy's sugar threshold.

archived beets
For the first time since 1968 the UK can produce and sell as much sugar around the world as it would like. Feb 2018

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