Tate & Lyle Sugars enjoyed a huge jump in sales and profits last year as the cane sugar refiner benefited from weak European sugar beet harvests.

A sharp escalation in global sugar pricing in 2023 pushed up T&L revenues by 57% to €532.6m in the year to 24 September 2023. That was up from €340.1m in the previous year.

Profitability also rocketed, with adjusted operating profits of €68.6m compared with just €2m in the previous year.

The group attributed its improved performance to the poor sugar beet harvest in the UK and Europe, as well as the timing of price changes on commercial agreements.

Including gains and losses on financial products used for hedging, pre-tax profits rose even further to €117.1m from a loss of €688k.

Claire Crill, a spokesperson for T&L Sugars, said 2023 had been a “tough year operationally” despite the sharp improvement in financial performance, as the group had to “increase cane sugar production at very short notice” to mitigate the gap left by poor sugar beet harvests.

“This was made harder by very high international sugar prices, unprecedented energy prices, and the UK government decision not to allow any extra short-term access to tariff-free raw cane sugar in 2023,” she added.

However, the improved financial performance of the group at least partly reflects the more beneficial import regime for cane sugar following the UK’s exit from the EU.

The accounts note that the UK adopting its own international trade policy from 1 January 2021 has created “a wider choice over where to source raw cane sugar”, despite resulting in losing market in the EU due to rules or origin criteria

Crill said the performance represented “a fair reward for the hard work and risk involved in keeping the UK supplied in an extraordinarily difficult year”, while noting that cane refining has been “challenged over many years”.

However, she added: “Sugar is a cyclical business, and with world sugar prices dropping and beet harvests increasing, life has got tougher since these results.”

Global sugar prices have fallen by around a third since the autumn of 2023 as supply constraints have eased.

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