‘Swiss sugar’ only needs to contain 40 percent sugar from Switzerland

For the Swiss designation of origin, only 40 percent of the sugar in a product needs to come from Switzerland. The reason for this was the bad year for sugar beets, the Agricultural Information Service (LID) announced on Thursday.

In principle, 80 percent of the raw materials of a product with a Swiss designation of origin must also come from Switzerland, as stated by the so-called Swissness rule. However, this changes if insufficient raw materials are available. If the self-sufficiency rate of a product is below 50 percent, the Swiss share in a product only needs to be half as large.

According to the LID, this is now the case with sugar. Both weather and a pest infestation resulted in a low sugar beet harvest in 2023. “Last year was forgettable. It couldn’t be worse,” Martin Flury, president of the Swiss Association of Sugar Beet Growers, told LID.

The rain caused problems for the beets in the autumn. Last year the plant disease “Syndrome des basses richesses” (SBR) spread. The SBR ensures a low sugar content. According to LID, it was first detected in four samples in eastern Switzerland in 2023. Previously this only happened in Western Switzerland.

In addition, the so-called beet beetle, a pest of North African origin, was discovered for the first time. The beet beetle likes heat and drought, Flury explains. “We hope it doesn’t spread further.”

The goal now is to increase the level of self-sufficiency again, Andreas Blank, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Schweizer Zucker AG, told LID. Reducing the necessary share of Swiss sugar also carries the risk that the industry will become increasingly dependent on imported sugar. (saw/sda)