European sugar prices have hit record highs, well above soaring global markets, due to a sugar deficit in the bloc, linked notably to falling output in France where farmers have been deterred by poor harvests in recent years. High sugar prices at a time when grain prices have fallen could make farmers favour beets in their rotations, sugar beet growers said. The French sugar beet crop area fell to a 14-year low this year. "We must be careful not to fall into the opposite extreme," Franck Sander, chairman of French sugar beet union CGB, told Reuters, warning that a rise in area could make EU prices slump. Saint Louis Sucre closed two factories in 2019 as part of a wider restructuring plan at Suedzucker, Europe’s largest sugar refiner.

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Persons: Saint Louis Sucre, Germany's Suedzucker, Saint, Louis Sucre, rapeseed sowings, Franck Sander, Sybille de La, Nigel Hunt, Michael Hogan, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Reuters, European Union, Thomson Locations: France, Ukraine, Suedzucker, Poland, London, Hamburg