A blockbuster year (From Gazette & Herald)

A blockbuster year

IT HAS been a blockbuster, record-breaking 'campaign' at British Sugar's York factory.

With just a few days to go before the end of the campaign - that 22-week rush both to harvest and process the beet crop before the winter frosts - there have been yields and quality that the 77-year-old plant has never seen before.

The constantly billowing chimney is evidence that the factory will have processed 1,440 tonnes of sugar per day - a full 5pc up on last year's record.

By February 6, the end of the campaign - named after Napoleon Boneaparte's bid to vanquish the Russians before the onslaught of winter - the York factory will have processed a total 210,000 tonnes of sugar plus 100,000 tonnes of animal feed pellets.

Steve Williams, general manager at British Sugar York, said: "This reflects a record crop for the 1,400 farmers in North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire who are contracted to grow beet for us.

"The consistently warm and sunny weather meant ideal growing conditions, producing beet with record levels of sugar - so it was a case of both quantity and quality."

He said that where the normal yield in past years had stood at about nine tonnes of sugar per hectare, this time it was about ten tonnes.

An extra 44 people were taken on this year, over and above the 110 permanent staff, to help with the campaign - this was no more than in previous years "so the record throughput helped us to minimise costs and beat our budgets."

Mr Williams added: "We not only have the fantastic beet crop to thank, but also the continued commitment to continuous improvement from our workforce."

It crowned an amazing year for the factory, which in November scooped the best business and education link title in the 2003 Business of the Year awards by our sister paper, the Evening Press.

Rosey Dunn, chairman of the York East branch of the National Farmers' Union, who herself grows 18 acres of beet at her farm in Stockton-on-the-Forest, said she had more than fulfilled her contract to grow 250 tonnes.

"It's good news. My only regret is that I'm paid £30 per tonne, but any surplus is paid at the world price of £1.97 per tonne. With hindsight I could have fulfilled the contract by using four acres less than I did, but you can't gamble it.

"It all goes towards an overall three-year average, so I'm not complaining."

Updated: 11:38 Wednesday, January 28, 2004