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Vienna. (kle) The low price of sugar causes problems at the Viennese company of sugar, starch and fruit Agrana. After the first quarter of fiscal 2018/19 (late February), the sugar segment recorded only a small operating profit of 1.6 million euros, against 18.1 million euros in the same quarter of the previous year. This mbadive collapse in profits was also the reason why the Ebit across the Agrana group of 47% to 37.0 million euros collapsed and thus almost dropped A half. The turnover is also down 630.3 million euros (-7.9%).
The miserable prices remain for the moment
President of the Executive Board Johann Marihart does not expect significant relaxation on the sugar market either. The end of sugar production quotas in the EU in the autumn of 2017 has led to a "euphoric increase in production," said Thursday the director of the Austrian news agency. At the same time, white sugar prices on the European futures market have fallen to their lowest level in ten years.
Agrana does not want to reduce sugar production anyway. According to Marihart, the capacity and the space must be maintained. It is important to "go through the difficult phase" – although the boss of Agrana for the sugar sector does not want to exclude losses in the coming quarters. However, they are working to reduce costs in sugar factories, according to Marihart.
Fruit Company with a lot of potential
Marihart sees great growth opportunities in the emerging fruit preparations sector, especially in emerging markets. In Asia, for example, consumers would increasingly resort to fruit yogurts and dairies would increasingly require agrana fruit preparations. In early July, the listed company announced the purchase of 49% of the Algerian company Elafruits.
For fiscal year 2018/19, Agrana expects stable sales of the Group, but for the Ebit but with a "significant decline". More recently, the company, in which Raiffeisen holds a substantial stake, had approximately 8,700 employees and 59 production sites around the world.
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