French sugar maker Ouvre decides to shut factory due to technical and financial problems
French sugar producer Ouvre will close its only factory in Souppes-sur-Loing due to technical and financial challenges. This is France’s sixth sugar plant closure in five years. Poor beet harvests, falling sugar prices, and market saturation have impacted the sector. Ouvre arranged for Cristal Union to process its farmers’ beets, aiming to resume production in 2025.
French sugar producer Ouvre has announced the closure of its only factory due to a combination of technical and financial challenges, as confirmed by the company to Reuters on Tuesday. This marks the sixth closure of a sugar plant in France in just five years.
As the European Union’s leading sugar producer, France has faced significant hurdles in recent years. Adverse weather conditions and disease have led to poor harvests, causing some farmers to abandon beet cultivation, which in turn has reduced the sugar supply. Additionally, falling sugar prices have eroded profits in the sector.
Family-owned Ouvre, which operates one sugar plant located in Souppes-sur-Loing, south of Paris, with an output of about 60,000 metric tons of sugar per year, had been forced to halt output late last year due to severe technical problems, reported Reuters. In an attempt to stay operational, Ouvre arranged for Cristal Union, France’s second-largest sugar producer, to process sugar beets from its farmers in the 2024/25 season, with hopes of resuming production in 2025/26.
The closure was communicated to the plant’s 109 employees. Julien Ouvre, CEO of Ouvre and Sons, explained in a statement that in a saturated market, where our competitors, large industrial groups, are reducing the number of their factories, the cost of rehabilitating our industrial tools exceeds our financial capacities
This shutdown aligns with a broader decline in sugar production across France, exacerbated by falling sugar prices.
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Source : Chinimandi
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