About sugar

A mere 200 years ago, sugar was regarded as a luxury item that was reserved mainly for the well-to-do. Tropical sugar cane was the sole raw material source. It was only after the discovery of sugar in beet by Andreas Sigismund Marggraf in 1747 that it became possible to produce sugar in our latitude.

His student, Franz Carl Achard, founded the first sugar beet factory in Cunern, Silesia in 1801. The beet sugar industry developed in Germany during the 19th century, making sugar affordable for everybody.

There is no chemical difference between white beet sugar and cane sugar. Sugar cane is produced in South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia, and sugar beet predominantly in Europe as well as in the USA, Canada and other overseas regions. Sugar beet accounts for roughly one-quarter of the approximately 135 million tonnes of sugar produced globally.