The sugar stored inside the plant is formed through a process of photosynthesis. In order for it to reach the consumer it must be extracted from the plant. Producing table sugar is about extraction rather than manufacture.

The same principle applies to sugar cane and sugar beet.

The sucrose has to be isolated and the other components of the plant removed stage by stage. To extract the sugar from the plant cells it must be cleared of impurities. The sugar juice is then evaporated to obtain crystals. At the end of these processes the sugar will have been extracted, purified, concentrated and crystallised but will not have undergone any alteration or chemical change.


Cane and beet must be processed quickly in order to preserve their sugar content.  That is why sugar factories are located close to cultivation areas. It is also the reason why the activities of the sugar industry are seasonal, from late September to late December.

From sugar beet to sugar crystals

Sugar beet has a two-year reproductive cycle.  During the first year, or vegetative phase, the plant builds up stores of sugar in its root.  


After this growth period, during the second year, or reproductive phase, these energy reserves are used to support flowering and production of seeds by cross-fertilisation.


For sugar production, sugar beet is harvested after one year, when the sugar reserves in the root are at their highest (15-20% of total weight).

Soil tare

When the root is harvested it is covered in “soil tare”. Soil tare generates direct and indirect costs in terms of soil erosion, unnecessary transport, and storage and recycling expenses. Over the last 20 years, “soil tare” has dropped from 30% to 20% of net weight on delivery, due mainly to the activities of growers.


his means that three million tonnes of earth remain in the fields rather than being transported to sugar processing plants with the sugar beets. This represents a saving in soil transport equal to a line of trucks 3,000 km long!  In 2006, an interprofessional agreement defined a series of soil tare improvements and allowances.
In 2007, it did not exceed 15%.