Farm leaders are due to meet with British Sugar representatives on Tuesday (30th July) as the confrontation over sugar beet prices comes to a head.

Contracts sent out by the UK's monopoly processor British sugar following the Cereals Event in June expire on Wednesday (31st July), but industry leaders have said the company did not secure the consent of the NFU's Sugar Board, which negotiates on behalf of sugar growers. The Board rejected British Sugar's offer of £30.67/tonne at Cereals.

The Sugar Board is holding out for the higher contract price of £35.50/t, arguing that British Sugar's monopoly has led to untenable pressure on growers to accept artificially low prices, but that newfound unity within the industry has led to a widespread refusal to accept the June contract price.

British Sugar maintains it was legally obliged to send out the contracts, but has refused to enter into talks about raising contract prices. In response, NFU has urged growers to pledge their tonnages to the union as a mark of support. By Monday, the union had received pledges representing 5,342,475 tonnes.

British sugar needs 7 million tonnes of beet each year. NFU negotiators hope to secure enough support in the form of pledges to force the processor's hand.

On Thursday 25th and Monday 29th July, meetings were held at Diss and Newark (Nottinghamshire) ahead of the talks scheduled for this week. In all, 435 growers and their representatives attended the meetings. NFU said there was a "clear message of on-going support" for its stance and continued efforts to secure a price rise.    

Earlier in the month, NFU Sugar board chair Robert Law railed against British Sugar; Law said the processor had sought to circumvent further negotiations by approaching growers individually with contracts in June. He said this approach amounted to using "bullying and intimidation" and added that the current struggle represents "a new low" in relations between growers and the country's sole processor.