German fourth beet test sugar content down on year

The fourth test on sugar beet harvested so far in Germany this year showed sugar content of 16.1 percent against 17.6 percent in the same test at this time last year, the association of German sugar producers WVZ said on Tuesday.
This was however a considerable improvement from this year's first test which showed sugar content of only 13.3 percent. Other points in the test were that beets totalled 88,200 plants per hectare against 81,100 last year.
This year's German plantings have fallen to 438,000 hectares from 444,000 hectares last year.
Germany has had an average of 36 millimetres of rain in the last 14 days against 31 millimetres during the comparative test in 2003, the association said.