Akzente 2/2012

Akzente

News from Nordzucker | Issue 1 | February 2012

Perfect campaign!

Stevia opens up new opportunities

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Three years in the Group: the changes undergone

by Nordic Sugar

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top performance throughout the Group

The long-term outlook continues to look positive: world sugar market

Contents

27

20

16

NEWS UPDATE

BEET

4 2011/12 Campaign: perfect in every way

16

7

“Harnessing strengths – acting in a f­orward-looking way” Comment by Dr Michael Noth

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Third quarter finishes with outstanding earnings

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Cross-border networks

10 Award winning: Nordzucker wins the “Treasury of the Year 2011” award

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Medals for sugar beet: Excess beet and industrial beet pushed the competition into the sidelines in 2011.

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Clean water and power generation thanks to anaerobic reactors

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Stevia – what´s new in the EU?

18 Sugar market: long-term indicators also positive 20

20 tonnes of chocolate a day – in tiny little pieces

COMMUNITY

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Stevia – new market ready for to take-off

22 ErlebnisBauernhof

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PureCircle Limited

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www.nordzucker.de relaunch

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Nordzucker sponsors Phantoms@School

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Successful operation from start to finish

23 Nordzucker converts Mumme Jelly into a donation for deprived children 24

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Triple victory for sugar beet

13 Stevia opens up new market opportunities

14 Corporate Procurement: Procurement for Group profitability

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MARKETS AND CLIENTS t

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What happens to our sugar? Our sugar sweetens tiny pieces of chocolate at Herza in Norderstedt.

Recipe: Pharisee

Editorial

» We need a proper framework which enables us to securely and reliably supply our clients with sustainably-produced sugar of the highest quality.

Hartwig Fuchs

Dear Shareholders, Dear Readers, I hope you also enjoyed a good start to the New Year!

If we take a look back at the beet campaign which has just finished, we can clearly say that 2011 ended very well, and 2012 has started in outstanding fashion! Everything about this campaign was optimal: early sowing, then the warm spring followed by rain at just the right time, and Nordzucker’s decision to allow the campaign to begin earlier than it has ever started before.

Everything went hand-in-hand: on the fields, in the beet offices, and in the factories. We have a large harvest but still very satisfactory prices even though the situation on the sugar market has calmed down considerably. But instead of resting on our laurels, we want to continue working on our success.

One way we do this is in our 20 · 20 · 20 project. As you know, our aim by 2020 is to ensure that 20 per cent of the farmers produce 20 tonnes of sugar per hectare on their fields. The campaign highlighted the progress we have made in achieving this goal because a few farmers have already cracked the 20 tonne barrier on their fields.

Another thing about 2020: This is an important date for all of us for other reasons – the sugar market regime is currently scheduled to end on the last day of September 2015. The European Commission decided last October not to extend the sugar market regime beyond that date. We are advocating an extension of the sugar market regime until 2020. Our reasoning is that the sugar market regime is the instrument which secures the supply of sugar in the European Union because it provides security for sugar beet cultivation. And sugar beet cultivation ensures that the European Commission’s biodiversity ambitions are realised. We need stable conditions which enable us to securely and reliably supply our clients with sustainably-produced sugar of the highest quality. This is why we need the sugar market regime until 2020 – as also proposed by the European Parliament.

But the sugar market regime is not the only regulatory framework with which we are actively involved. We are also concerned with the changes affecting the sugar market in Europe and around the world. Consolidation is continuing in Europe and elsewhere in the world, and Nordzucker has ambitions to continue growing.

At the winter meetings, we will have an opportunity to discuss these matters, and we are very much looking forward to these events.

Yours faithfully,

Hartwig Fuchs

Akzente 01/12

3

NEWS UPDATE

Titel

2011/12 Campaign

Perfect in every way Sweet, clean, smooth. Nordzucker finishes a textbook campaign

Every campaign has its own special character. The character of this one was very special indeed. Whichever door the Akzente editors knocked on in recent days at the end of the campaign, they have been greeted by superlatives in all of the Nordzucker regions. Sugar beet farmers, harvester and loader drivers, clamp managers, logistic partners, beet offices, Nordzucker employees in the 13 sugar factories and in the Küchenstraße in Braunschweig: satisfied faces everywhere and enormous enthusiasm about a sugar beet year which was unusually successful, and ran incredibly smoothly from sowing all the way to the sugar silos.

“Absolutely outstanding. In my 31 years in this job I have never experienced such a campaign,” smiles Chief Operations Officer Axel Aumüller. “Perfect in every way,” says his executive board colleague Dr Niels Pörksen for the raw materials side. Both are

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unanimous: “The favourable weather conditions made a major contribution to tackling the enormous good beet harvest.” But Nordzucker not only ascribes the good campaign success to the weather alone.

Favourable conditions fully exploited “Good yields don’t just happen on their own,” says Pörksen. “Favourable conditions need to be taken advantage of. And this is precisely what the farmers and the whole team across the Group succeeded in doing perfectly in 2011. This in turn depends on local expertise and countless decisions made at the right time: on the fields, in the beet offices, and in the sugar factories.”

All of these decisions this year were made “without any mistakes”. “Starting with the early sowing with an adequately high sowing density, all the way to the decisions made by many farmers to invest in the yield again by applying additional pesticide treatments in summer.” And last but not least,

also the decision to start the campaign a week earlier than originally intended.

Pörksen also considers the results of the 2011/12 campaign as emphatically justifying the recently started 20 · 20 · 20 Nordzucker project to systematically boost sugar yields.

“This is a tremendous stimulus,” he says. It also of course raises the exciting question of “How are we going to sustainably achieve more results of this kind in future?”

The first fields with 20 tonnes sugar per hectare Above average sugar yields were reported in all of the Nordzucker Group’s regions – with record harvests in some places. Some of the farmers could even boast already breaking the 20 tonne sugar yield mark targeted for 2020 on some of their fields in 2011. “This was a really extraordinary beet year,” says Torsten Schmidt, a farmer from Bebertal. “Everything this year was optimal from sowing to harvesting,” says Schmidt

neWS UPdate Just as in the Uelzen factory shown here, almost all Nordzucker factories were able to work continuously under full load throughout the campaign.

Sweden

2011

2010

Beet yield (t/ha)

62.8

52

Sugar content (%)

16.8

Sugar yield (t/ha) Campaign length (d)

Finland

2011

2010

Beet yield (t/ha)

48.0

37.1

17.1

Sugar content (%)

15.7

16.9

10.6

8.9

Sugar yield (t/ha)

7.5

6.3

129

109

Campaign length (d)

89

73

Denmark

2011

2010

Beet yield (t/ha)

74.5

58

Sugar content (%)

16.8

17.8

Sugar yield (t/ha)

12.5

10.3

Lithuania

2011

2010

Campaign length (d)

138

112

Beet yield (t/ha)

51.2

Sugar content (%)

17.3

46.2 2 16.4 4

1 9 3

Sugar yield (t/ha)

8.9

7.6 6

Campaign length (d)

115

103

Copenhagen

Braunschweig

Germany

2011

2010

Beet yield (t/ha)

71.2

59.4

Sugar content (%)

18.1

17.1

Sugar yield (t/ha)

12.9

10.2

Campaign length (d)

130

115

Poland

2011

2010

Beet yield (t/ha)

64.1

57.1

Sugar content (%)

18.1

16.9

Sugar yield (t/ha)

11.6

9.6

102

82

Slovakia

2011

2010

Beet yield (t/ha)

63.5

61

Sugar content (%)

18.7

16.1

Sugar yield (t/ha)

11.9

9.8

111

106

Campaign length (d)

Vienna

Campaign length (d)

As of: January 26, 2012

confirming the ideal sowing and growing conditions enjoyed by almost all of the regions in which Nordzucker cultivates sugar beet. Horst-Steffen Diers, a beet farmer from Klein Lobke commented that the high density of weeds was a real challenge in the 2011 beet year: “Low rainfall during the growing phase, minor effectiveness of soil herbicides, and even some resistance (Metamitron) required the more intense use of leaf-active herbicides and shorter intervals between herbicide applications – and howing was also necessary.” in focus: volume management and communication In total, the whole Nordzucker Group processed around 18 million tonnes of beet over an average of 125 days (previous year: 14.3 million tonnes, 107 days). “The biggest challenge was to ensure that the record harvest grown in the fields also made it safely to the sugar silos,” sums up Volker

Bückmann, Manager Raw Material Procurement Germany. “This made extraordinary demands on the communication and the performance of everyone involved. Our beet farmers, the partners in the logistics chain, and Nordzucker itself tackled all of these challenges masterfully in 2011.”

Dr Gerd Jung, Manager Raw Material Procurement in Poland and Slovakia also summed things up positively: “A superlative campaign: high sugar yields, good quality, perfect harvesting, storage and transport conditions, good prices, satisfied beet farmers.” enormous logistics challenge successfully tackled That this year would bring well above average beet yields was already obvious in summer. With basically the same daily processing capacity as the previous year, the Nordzucker factories started their campaigns at the beginning of September - one week earlier than usual on average across the Group. This was very important because the beet volumes were almost 25 per cent up on 2010 (plus 28 per cent in Northern Europe) which also meant record processing volumes for all three Nordzucker

regions. Another record: Nordzucker had never previously “planned” a campaign lasting almost 130 days: almost three weeks longer than the previous year in Germany, Denmark and Sweden.

“The really special thing in 2011 for us was the enormous logistics challenge,” emphasised Chief Operations Officer Axel Aumüller, who praised the excellent collaboration between production, beet management and product logistics. “Processing 25 per cent more sugar beet also means using more coal, limestone and energy – and especially making sure that there are adequate transport and storage capacities at the right place and at the right time for sugar, pellets, pressed pulp and carbo-lime.” “We prepared ourselves properly for the campaign by specifically acquiring additional clients for our products – such as pressed pulp,” reports Charlotte Rüss, product dispatcher in Clauen.

Clean and sweet sugar beet cuts processing costs Almost all of the factories worked at maximum capacity – or “right up to the line”, as they say in the factories. Thanks to the >> very good harvesting conditions, beet

Akzente 01/12

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NEWS UPDATE

Titel

» Horst-Steffen Diers Beet farmer from Klein Lobke

Janusz Nożewnik Director Opalenica

“Continuously beet-friendly weather, top harvesting conditions, high sugar contents, relaxed transport without snow and ice. Optimal – years like this don’t come around very often. The high sugar price benefits farmers, shareholders and Nordzucker.”

“The longest and most successful campaign in the Opalenica factory for more than ten years: there were no serious problems. We had good beet quality.

We produced the planned volume of white sugar 2A. Very satisfactory: the lower limestone and energy consumption.”

Dainius Cibulskis Director Kédainiai

Sven Buhrmann Director Uelzen

“The campaign in Kédainiai, Lithuania, was excellent. On the best days, we processed more than 6,400 tonnes of sugar beet and produced more than 1,000 tonnes of white sugar. Our all-time record. Processing throughout the whole campaign was also very stable.”

“A textbook campaign: the outstanding beet quality, together with the special maintenance levels totalling Euro 3.5 million in the Central Europe region, enabled us to achieve processing capacities of more than 100 per cent. The good harmonisation of engineering and sugar beet helped Uelzen to repeatedly process daily volumes of over 21,000 tonnes.”

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Campaign visit to the Nykøbing factory in Denmark: from left to right: Mariann Rasmussen (Manager Service Center in Nykøbing), Jesper Thomassen (Senior Vice President Production Northern Europa), Aksel Føns Johnsen (Director Nykøbing), Axel Aumüller (COO).

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with good internal and external quality, and only a very small number of problems, enables high processing capacities to be maintained throughout – which also had a positive impact on energy consumption.

The four-shift operations scheme which Nordzucker implemented in all of the factories for the first time in 2011 also proved to be a good move.

Apart from the technical problems affecting extraction and water treatment in Nykøbing and Nakskov, these factories also suffered from the consequences of the heavy rainfall which affected Denmark in late summer. Some of the beet entering the processing chain from flooded fields had already begun to alter, and it was not even possible to harvest some of the flooded fields.

The “green-white” conditions were not the only challenge: Nordzucker in Northern Europe had already started the conversion to the more efficient limekiln heating in 2011 – a task which was not helped by the fluctuating quality of the

new fuel anthracite and the limestone. And an automatic extinguishing system had to be installed in all of the pulp drying ovens shortly before the start of the campaign to comply with new regulations stipulated by the fire insurance companies. Although this was a curse during the initial adjustment work, it later proved to be a blessing when operations started. Other commissioning work such as the new pulp presses in Uelzen and Nykøbing was carried out without any problems at all. n

Dr Ulf Wegener Strategic Raw Material Procurement

Boris Kuster Production Group

neWS UPdate

“Harnessing strengths – acting in a forward-looking way”

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It is already clear that the Group will generate an outstanding consolidated profit in 2011/12. Earnings in the first nine months of the financial year rose from Euro 64.4 million the previous year to Euro 139.0 million. During recent months, Nordzucker has been able to profit from the positive overall market conditions. It is forecast that this market situation will remain in its present form throughout the current financial year.

But favourable market conditions alone are not enough to produce good earnings figures. The opportunities opened up by the market have to be identified We are laying the foundaand exploited. This is precisely tions for continuous progress what we achieved in recent in future – our good financial months, and our success is now situation plays a valuable reflected in our earnings. Our part in this. performance at the end of the financial year will be very good, but one thing is crystal clear: our highest priority is to safeguard the long-term success of our company.

This is why we continue to press forward with our savings programme and the integration activities. We want to harness the strength of our company to maintain our position in the long term in a competitive environment. An essential factor here is long-term strategic financial planning and a very good equity cover, which gives us enough room to manoeuvre so that we can effectively exploit future opportunities for growth.

We are also making good progress here as well: our equity ratio after the first nine months of the financial year was at 44 per cent and therefore seven percentage points higher than in the first nine

“Our highest priority is to safeguard the long-term success of our company.”

Dr Michael Noth, Chief Financial Officer Nordzucker AG

months of the previous year. We are laying the foundations for continuous progress in future – our good financial situation plays a valuable part in this.” n

Third quarter finishes with outstanding earnings Nordzucker profits from overall market conditions and strategic decisions Nordzucker more than doubled consolidated earnings in the first three quarters of the 2011/12 financial year compared to the same period the previous year. The earnings rose year-on-year from Euro 64.4 million to Euro 139.0 million.

Operating earnings (EBIT) also rose significantly from Euro 134.3 million to 206.5 million.

Revenues rose to Euro 1,476.9 million after Euro 1,361.0 million the previous year. This corresponds to an increase in revenues of around 8.5 per cent.

These outstanding figures are attributable to several factors: the company benefitted from the forward-looking strategic decision to

rigorously shed non-profitable trade investments so that it could concentrate on its core sugar business. The cost cutting measures associated with the long-term “Profitability plus” efficiency programme also had a positive effect. And last but not least, the positive overall market environment – whose market opportunities Nordzucker actively exploited – also contributed to the good earnings figures.

The Chief Executive Officer also expects the last quarter of the financial year to produce good results and is therefore forecasting unusually good earnings for the whole 2011/12 financial year.

Bianca Deppe-Leickel

Nordzuck er AG Interim Report Financial Year 2011/2012 Nine months March 1 – November 30, 2011

The complete quarterly report is available in our download centre at www.nordzucker.de

Akzente 01/12

7

NEWS UPDATE

Nordic Sugar successfully completed the third campaign as part of the Nordzucker Group.

Cross-border networks Good progress in joint harmonisation of processes and routines When Nordzucker acquired Nordic Sugar in 2009, the Group was joined at a stroke by seven additional production sites in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Lithuania.

In 2011, the sugar factories in the Northern Europe region could already look back on the successful completion of their third campaign as an integrated part of the Nordzucker Group. Dorthe Lindgreen ­invited three of the responsible plant managers to provide a short résumé for Akzente.

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Bengt Högberg Director Nordic Sugar Ö ­ rtofta, Sweden

Core business ­advantage “There is absolutely no doubt at all about the advantages of being part of an organisation whose core business is sugar. In the Swedish sugar industry we

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have experienced a number of changes in ownership over the course of the years, and seen at first hand the large differences between being part of a core business or only a small part of the overall activities of a parent company. When the owner concentrates on sugar as its core business, its commitment and enthusiasm for the business is an enormous benefit.

Size is important Size is also important. Having the Nordzucker Group behind us brings us the ­advantage of a critical mass which allows us to participate in the future development of the European sugar industry instead of the situation in the past when we could only look on from the sidelines.

Naturally, the merger of companies of this size and scale, and with such diverse histories, means that the processes and routines have to be harmonised. I think that we are making good progress here – underpinned by effective co-operation and a constructive spirit.”

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Aksel Føns Johnsen Director Nordic Sugar Nykøbing, Denmark

“Nordic Sugar has always enjoyed a long tradition of exchanging expertise and experience across the Group, so it was very interesting to see how this concept has spread to the whole Nordzucker Group. We have a unique opportunity of harnessing the know-how already present across the Group. There are already many forums up and running today which promote the exchange of experience, and develop new joint processes for all areas of production.”

Exchange the concentrated international experience I am a member of a joint Nordzucker workgroup concerned with occupational health and safety aspects at a Group level.

I personally enjoy the fruitful discussions

AKTUELL

Säkylä sugar factory (FIN) The Säkylä factory started ­operations in 1953 and produces sugar, molasses and animal feed. The factory has 66 permanent staff that are joined by another 47 temporary staff during the campaign.

Locations in Northern Europe

Copenhagen (DK) Nordic Sugar headquarters.

Around 100 staff work here today on the administration side of the business.

Nakskov sugar factory (DK) Built in 1882. The factory is one of Nordic Sugar’s largest beet processing plants. The factory has a permanent workforce of around 140 that is joined by another 37 temporary staff during the campaign.

Örtofta sugar factory (S) Opened in 1890. The sugar factory is one of the largest and most efficient sugar processing factories in the whole of Europe. Around 150 permanent employees work at the factory, and are supported by another 106 temporary employees during the campaign.

Arlöv refinery (S) The factory in Arlöv is one of Nordic Sugar’s two sugar refineries which produce speciality products. It employs around 167 staff.

Nykøbing sugar factory (DK) Established in 1884. This factory is the only sugar processing factory which also has the capacity to refine sugar. The factory has 190 permanent staff that are joined by another 49 temporary staff during the campaign.

aimed at jointly establishing an approach in this important area so that we can profit from the concentrated international experience within the Group and boost our

­ fficiency even further. We set up a formal e network of technical experts at the various sites to promote the exchange of expertise across the Group. I proposed setting up

AKTUELL

Porkkala refinery (FIN) The Porkkala factory produces a large range of sugar products. Some of these are sold to the further processing bakery and food industry, whilst others are sold to the retail trade under the DanSukker brand. The factory employs around 200 staff.

Kédainiai sugar factory (LT) Opened in 1970. In addition to animal feed and molasses, this factory primarily produces fine sugar. It ­employs 186 staff that are joined by another 156 temporary staff during the campaign.

Source: postings (as at 01.11.2011) More information: www.nordzucker.de/locations

such an organisation almost two years ago and I am delighted to see today how engineers from all Nordzucker countries are now able to communicate via the network and regularly discuss and agree on tech­ nical aspects and processes.”

Internal efficiency campaign The ways and means with which we work with the Profitability plus efficiency programme for example is very new for us.

The focus on slashing costs and implementing efficiency-promoting measures to strengthen our competitiveness is similar to what we did earlier on, but the organisation of such targeted activities in the form of an internal campaign is different from the way we implemented measures of this kind in the past. In those days, we primarily used efficient production as a target for our >> general further development.”

Nordic Sugar headquarters in Copenhagen.

Akzente 01/12

9

NEWS UPDATE

The laboratory in Säkylä.

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Employees at the Örtöfta factory.

Sune Berghäll Director Nordic Sugar Säkylä, Finland

Service Centre in Nykøbing.

Long-term focus “The advantages include the stability and the long-term quality of the focus. This is also reflected in Nordzucker’s investment strategy. Today we work with five as well as ten-year plans, and although at first glance this may seem a less flexible concept than earlier, it improves our options for planning implementation because of

the transparency of the investment decisions which are also made early on. “We belong to several of the joint Nordzucker workgroups concerned with production, and the interaction with colleagues from the Group’s other countries has proved to be a very important factor in the meantime in the development of our business activities.” n

Award winning: Nordzucker wins the “Treasury of the Year 2011” award The Finance Department was delighted by the very good conditions it was able to negotiate for Nordzucker last June when it closed the new syndicated loan (cf. Akzente 03/11, p. 9).

It now has another reason to celebrate: at the end of November, the Treasury Department at Nordzucker AG won the “Treasury of the Year 2011” award. The prize awarded by the Finance specialist journal every year is given for excellent services in finance management by a German company. Nordzucker won the award for its successful refinancing of the acquisition loan totalling Euro 1.36 billion in a ­difficult banking sector environment. The refinancing significantly reduced the costs, and considerably simplified the contractual documentation for Nordzucker AG. “I am delighted that the outstanding performance of our t­ reasury team has been honoured in this way. The successful refinancing of

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From left to right: Dr Michael Noth, Ralf Brunkow and Markus Dentz (Finance) at the awards ceremony.

the loan has given Nordzucker much greater commercial flexibility,” says Dr Michael Noth, Chief Financial Officer Nordzucker AG. n red.

NEWS UPDATE

Nordzucker is equipping three factories with innovative wastewater treatment ­technology ready for the next campaign.

Clean water and power generation from 2012/13 thanks to anaerobic reactors Klein Wanzleben, Kédainiai, Opalenica: Investment in high environmental standards Two and a half years after the acquisition of Nordic Sugar, the number of ­Nordzucker’s international projects is growing. The Corporate Procurement department is responsible for the panregional procurement of goods categories such as energy, consumables, and technologies.

To satisfy the more stringent regulations for wastewater treatment, a new big project was launched in the middle of 2010: “We will be upgrading the water treatment plants at three locations to satisfy the latest technical standards. This is an important international project which is being implemented across all regions from start to ­finish with the assistance of the in-house Corporate Innovation and Technology ­department. Specifically, this means that we will be installing anaerobic reactors in Opalenica, Kédainiai and Klein Wanzleben before the start of the 2012/13 campaign,”

explains Chief Operations Officer Axel Aumüller. The existing waste water treatment systems will be upgraded with new technologies. The same model will be ­installed even though the Opalenica, Kédainiai and Klein Wanzleben factories do not have identical facilities.

Energy from bio-methane The organic constituents in the sugar factory wastewater – tiny particles of sugar beet and residual sugar – will be broken down by bacteria in the new anaerobic ­reactors to produce bio-methane. This methane is put to good use by being collected and used as a fuel. This reduces the consumption of natural gas which has to be purchased externally, and therefore makes a positive contribution to the ecobalances at each of these sites.

Emissions of unpleasant smells are considerably reduced because the organic substances in the water are broken down

in the absence of air. “The breakdown and conversion in the reactors takes place under controlled and optimal conditions – this helps us rapidly and efficiently treat the constituents suspended in the wastewater.

You could say we are optimising the natural biological process and exploiting the methane generated by this treatment method,” adds Aumüller.

Klein Wanzleben was the German ­factory selected for this investment project because the higher volumes of processed beet, and the activities of fuel 21, generate large volumes of organic substances suspended in the wastewater – which the factory wastewater treatment system was not initially designed to cope with. Additional investment will continue in all factories in the future as well, says Axel Aumüller: “We are continuously investing in this aspect to ensure that our factories continue to satisfy our very high environmental standards in future.” n nt

Akzente 01/12

11

NEWS UPDATE

1

1. Stevia rebaudiana originated in South America.

It is primarily cultivated in China today.

2. Stevia in the form of a powder. The calorie-free sweetener is around 200 – 300 times sweeter than sugar and can be easily mixed with ­sugar.

2

Stevia – what’s new in the EU? The official announcement came on 2 December 2011: consumers and the producers of food products in the EU can now also use steviol glycosides as a sweetener. The calorie-free sweetener is a natural product and is 200 – 300 times sweeter than sugar. The authorisa­tion issued by the EU Commission after tests carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) proved that the sweetener – which is

12

already used in many countries – carries no health risks. A complicated process is used to extract the white powder from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant which is currently mainly cultivated in China (Akzente February 2011, page 24f.). There are still limits though for steviol glycosides – which when used as a food additive in future will be labelled in recipes and lists of ingredients with the number E960:

the EU has defined a legal intake limit of 4 milligrams per kilogram bodyweight per day.

E960 is approved for use in lemonades, preserves and dairy products. It has so far not been approved for use in pastries, desserts and snacks. The EU has also forbidden the commercial cultivation of the frost-sensitive stevia plants, as well as tea products and other products made from stevia leaves. n sdp

NEWS UPDATE

Stevia opens up new ­market opportunities The headlines shout: “Sugar revolution” and “Wonder plant”; or “Eating and drinking without a guilty conscience”. The Berliner Tagesspiegel sees the EU approval of stevia as “An attack on sugar beet”. The truth is that stevia supplies very intense sweetness on the basis of phytochemicals.

The steviol glycosides extracted from its leaves have outstanding properties which the food, cosmetics and medical product manufacturers, and well informed consumers in the EU, have been waiting to exploit for a long time: for example, stevia can help cut calories, promote dental health, and reduce blood sugar levels.

This makes steviol glycosides a very promising alternative to synthetic sweeteners. Combined with sugar, however, it creates multitalented sweet substances with interesting functionalities: mixed products which marry the natural advantages of stevia and sugar within new lowcalorie product variants. But stevia will not elbow sugar beet out of the market – just as it failed to do in the USA, China, France and other countries where stevia products have already been on the market for a very long time already. With NP Sweet and

Dr Niels Pörksen Chief Agricultural Officer, Nordzucker AG

PureCircle as a strong partner, Nordzucker has been well prepared for some time to exploit the opportunities opened up by this new market segment.

And when will stevia be growing on our fields for NP Sweet? Stevia rebaudiana is mainly cultivated in China today. The frost-sensitive plant has so far only been cultivated in the EU on an experimental basis for research purposes. Its cultivation may, however, be feasible in the EU, ­although only in the still distant future. n

PureCircle Limited PureCircle Limited has its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and with an 80 per cent market share, is the world market leader in the production and marketing of ultrapure steviol glycosides. In the 2011 financial year, the company generated revenues of USD 53.3 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were USD 5.2 million in the same period.

Stevia rebaudiana requires the same climatic conditions to thrive as tea, and is cultivated primarily in China. Other cultivation areas are in South America and Kenya.

PureCircle works together with independent farmers on a contractual basis. These supply the dried leaves in bales to China where the steviol glycosides – the sweeteners – are extracted in a similar way to the sugar processing method.

PureCircle supplies companies working in the food and drinks sector world-wide with a range of stevia products. Because nine different steviol glycosides can be extracted from the plant, the company supplies a number of customised stevia products. PureCircle’s objective is to promote the stevia sweetener to lift it out of its niche position and achieve world-wide acceptance of stevia products.

In addition to the joint venture with Nordzucker (NP Sweet), PureCircle also works together with other companies in Europe. n nt

New market ready for take-off: Nordzucker and NP Sweet develop sweet solutions with stevia Nordzucker established the NP Sweet joint venture in March 2011 with the Malaysian world-market leader for stevia products, PureCircle. The approval of steviol glycosides as a food additive in the EU has now given the green light to NP Sweet’s distribution and development work.

“We are building up contacts with clients, and showing them how they can use

s­ teviol glycosides in their products,” says Matthias Meyer describing NP Sweet’s main activities. Meyer joined NP Sweet in November and is responsible for the sale and marketing of stevia in Germany. “We are currently mainly talking with producers of drinks and dairy products. We are also in contact with the manufacturers of preserves as well.” Instead of presenting the food scientists and application engineers with a white powder, Meyer brings along

samples in the form of finished end products created by the test kitchen. “In January for instance, we visited a producer of preserves.

To show how stevia can replace artificial sweeteners in preserves, my colleagues in the Innovation and Technology department tested mixtures of steviol glycosides and sugar and used them to make jam. We then made jam in the conventional way, compared the tasting samples and presented >> the results.”

Akzente 01/12

13

NEWS UPDATE

Drinks pushing ahead the fastest One of NP Sweet’s jobs is to provide ­advice to existing and new clients. This is time consuming but produces good results. “A tea drink will already be on supermarket shelves in February containing a stevia extract supplied by NP Sweet. This will be joined by a lemonade in summer which is also sweetened with stevia from NP Sweet”, reports Meyer. Many clients are still waiting for take-off, and are currently biding their time to see what happens with the pioneering products. “This

A tea drink will be launched on the market in February. This will be followed by lemonade in the summer, both sweetened with ­stevia from NP Sweet.

is typical of innovation in the food sector.

The large companies with big brand portfolios and the necessary development and advertising budgets have to pave the way before others follow. On the other hand, there are also some very innovative smaller companies who identify opportunities very quickly and launch new products on the market,” says Meyer. Matthias Meyer is certain that stevia will be able to establish itself on the market in the EU. He forecasts that stevia will capture a 10 – 15 per cent share of the sweetener market in the drinks sector in the next five years. His confidence is based on the dynamic growth of the market for calorie-reduced food products, and the increase in the awareness that artificial sweeteners do not necessarily promote health. This is stevia’s biggest selling point because just like sugar, stevia is also extracted from a plant and is therefore a product from a natural source. n nt

Corporate Procurement

Procurement for Group profitability Good procurement is based on a lot of expertise and even more communication Companies which “procure well” are in better shape. They safeguard their earnings power and their position in the market, and can expand both facets successfully.

But how does an internationally positioned Group such as Nordzucker “procure well”?

How can Nordzucker optimally leverage the opportunities of the changing markets from the purchasing perspective?

“Category Management” brought alive Nordzucker reached a strategic decision two years ago to restructure its Procurement Department by introducing cat­ egory management – procurement according to goods categories. A summary of progress to date: the challenges are becoming even more interesting. In addition

14

to the many special projects and change of management within Corporate Procurement, the other outstanding issues primarily concern the communication and the exchange of expertise in an international ­organisation consisting of three regions.

PRION is Nordzucker’s pan-Group IT architecture which enables our procurement staff to precisely analyse and check the demand across the Group, and to define and implement purchasing projects.

At the first meeting of the Nordzucker procurement experts in Ahrensburg in December 2011, the category teams elaborated the strategy for Corporate Procurement and for the different categories.

They also defined the next steps. Procurement needs are subdivided into the fol-

Strategy meeting in Ahrensburg. After achieving their first successes, the Nordzucker procurement staff launch into the dialogues in the factories in 2012.

lowing categories: capital goods, maintenance and repair, technology and services, energy, packaging materials, consumables and supplies, raw materials, as well as administration and services.

NEWS UPDATE RÜBE

Successful operation from start to finish fuel 21 successfully ends the raw juice campaign After processing raw juice for 120 days, the campaign also ended successfully in the middle of January for the Nordzucker subsidiary fuel 21 in Klein Wanzleben. The raw material mixture for bioethanol production consisted almost entirely of raw juice since 15 September 2011. This was not only used by the Klein Wanzleben sugar factory for the production of thick juice and sugar, but was also fed directly into the ethanol production at fuel 21. We benefited here from the good quality of the sugar beet: high sugar concentrations, high purity, and low quantities of sand.

Dedicated cleaning measures minimised disruptions to the operations and the formation of crusts in the pipes.

Because of the high sugar concentration in the raw juice and the high purity, the ethanol yield per tonne of sugar was very satisfactory. A premiere at fuel 21 during this campaign was that the production plant was operated continuously

during raw juice processing for the first time. Continuous operation means instead of filling and emptying the fermenters separately, the tanks are connected to one another and maintained at a constant level. The disadvantage of this mode of operation is that microbial infections can spread faster throughout the plant and lead to losses in sugar and therefore ethanol. However, thanks to the optimised cleaning procedures, and clean, microbially uncontaminated raw materials, these losses could be largely avoided – with the result that the yields were very satisfactory. Now that the sugar beet campaign has come to an end, fuel 21 has now smoothly switched over to the continuous campaign using stored thick juice. n

More intense communication Communication with local employees is scheduled for intensification from the beginning of 2012. Implementing this objective will involve us in visiting all of the factories and initiating the dialogue across the Group about purchasing in accordance with the category management principle. This will not only involve getting across what we wish to achieve, we also want to listen to what the people at each location say, and jointly elaborate solutions and procurement projects. The employees at each location are always part of the project team.

considerable value for Nordzucker. This is highlighted by various major projects. One of the latest examples is the water treatment plants for the factories in Kédainiai, Opalenica and Klein Wanzleben. And we are also already leveraging synergies in the other categories. These first very good results motivate us to pursue this promising strategy further. Our job is to create added

Jointly and systematically realising value Our staff regularly visit the different locations. Working together with our colleagues in the factories, we have already realised some impressive procurement successes: Christer Svard and Dr Harald Powitz for instance, from the capital goods team have demonstrated that an efficiently operating procurement department can generate

Dr Andreas Schwarz Managing Director fuel 21 GmbH & Co. KG

value for the company. This added value and the degree of our customer-orientation define the speed at which the changes ­required in the organisation take place. n Frank Bauwens Manager Corporate ­Procurement

A good purchaser … ... is always searching for ways of saving the company money. Confucius says “The easiest money to earn is the money you don’t spend.” To ensure that Nordzucker purchasers do not “save money at the wrong end” they have a very precise understanding of the company and their in-house customers. We are constantly focused on “your” production processes, suppliers and productivity – always with the aim of searching for aspects which can be optimised further. As communicative team members, we foster

good contacts in almost all divisions, departments and locations across the company, as well as externally in the markets, and with the suppliers of consumables, energy, raw materials, machines and technical equipment. The more complex the organisation, the bigger the challenge for the procurement staff. Dividing up the work load into categories is very beneficial as the size of the company grows. It is obvious that no one can be completely familiar with every single category. n

Akzente 01/12

15

BEET

Triple victory for sugar beet Record harvest, smooth campaign, attractive beet prices The average yield of 13 tonnes of sugar per hectare produced by our beet farmers in 2011 breaks all the records. 20 per cent of our beet farmers this year crossed the 16 tonnes sugar per hectare milestone. This is the first medal won by the sugar beet. A fantastic harvest performance!

ing and direct costs) are shown in Figure 1. This also applied to the excess beet in the high-yielding locations. Their trust in these prices led our beet farmers to expand the area under beet cultivation in 2011 by six per cent.

Producing good yields is the business of our beet farmers. Identifying market opportunities and leveraging them successfully is the business of Nordzucker. We were able to do a great deal for our customers. This brings benefits for beet farmers and Nordzucker.

The Group was therefore able to optimise the marketing of the additional volumes of sugar early on. The proper placement of quota sugar, converting small volumes of non-quota sugar, as well as exports, all played an important part in the overall success. We are also enjoying the fruits of our efforts associated with the wellestablished Profitability plus programme. And we were able to raise the prices for all types of beet to a very attractive level overall much earlier than usual.

Even excess beet and industrial beet crushed the competition in 2011 Figure 2 shows that the expectations were justified. The enormous volumes of excess beet can generally be paid at the minimum quota beet prices plus the well-known ancillary payments and sugar concentration supplements. It is also possible to increase the industrial beet contracts at this level. This means that even the average quality and yields in the 2011 campaign, and the associated beet price of over 36 Euro per tonne, meant that even this type of beet was much more profitable than other crops. At the same time, the price of quota beet rose to over 40 Euro per tonne. Overall then, this is the result of a very profitable value chain. Sugar beet therefore wins its second prize!

Expanding cultivation because of the promise of good prices Farmers were already able to do their calculations during their cultivation planning in July 2010 on the basis of the minimum beet price, plus the well-known ancillary payments and sugar concentration supplements. They were also able to determine the prices for industrial contract beet as well as the promised conditions for industrial contract beet and excess beet. The quota and contractual beet were certainly more competitive than the wheat and rape seed prices forecast at the time. The prices for average quality sugar beet and the associated gross margin (minus work-

Way ahead of rape seed and wheat High yields are the key factor in our 20 · 20 · 20 philosophy. With ­respect to the aforementioned conditions, quota beet in 2011 is way ahead of rape seed and wheat. Harvests of more than six tonnes of rape seed or 14 tonnes of wheat per hectare would have been necessary to keep level with sugar beet. There is no denying that beet farmers and Nordzucker had luck on their side in 2011. The excellent co-operation between all of the partners, and the highly concentrated work throughout the campaign in our factories produced a considerable rise in our processing

All excess beet and industrial beet at minimum quota beet prices: that has to be a record!

16

BEET

Capacity growth: With a harvesting width of 10.20 metres, the first of the new beet loader generation boasts higher throughputs from broader clamps.

c­ apacities. This means that the campaign ended more than eight days earlier than scheduled. Record yields, attractive beet prices, and an incredibly smooth campaign: this is the third medal – a triple victory overall for sugar beet!

Potential for good beet prices in 2012 Because the situation in 2012 is by no means as clear at this stage as we would like, due to a number of still unanswered questions – not to mention the macro-economic situation – we cannot presently issue a reliable forecast. It is also obvious that the conditions for growing and harvesting beet cannot be as ideal every year as they were in 2011. Our cultivation recommendation for 2012 is therefore based on long-term trends. As a positive framework, we have raised the official price for l1 excess beet from 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the charged quota contractual volume. At the same

time, the minimum price goes up to 22.50 Euro per tonne l1 excess beet at 16 per cent polarisation. This means that when incorporating the expected ancillary payments and sugar concentration supplements, the price paid for l1 excess beet with 17.8 per cent polarisation will be almost 31 Euro per tonne. This is a good framework underpinning the profitability of beet cultivation, especially when taking into consideration the higher yields which can be expected.

We consider the market outlook for the European quota market to be positive in general so that we see potential for good beet prices again in 2012. n

Volker Bückmann Manager Beet Procurement, Central Europe

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

Gross margin (minus working and direct costs) (AdfL)

Gross margin (minus working and direct costs) (AdfL)

in €/ha, as at cultivation planning 2011 in July 2010

in €/ha, end of 2011/12 campaign

2,000

2,000

1,800

1,800

1,600

1,600

1,400

1,400

1,200

1,200

1,000

1,000

800

800

600

600

400

400

200

200 33.46 €/t

28.54 €/t

29.49 €/t

23.02 €/t

150 €/t

300 €/t

40.67 €/t

36.24 €/t

36.24 €/t

36.24 €/t

190 €/t

430 €/t

Sugar beet (quota)

Sugar beet l-contract fixed price

Sugar beet l-contract flex price

Excess beet

Wheat

Rape seed

Sugar beet (quota)

Sugar beet l-contract fixed price

Sugar beet l-contract flex price

Excess beet

Wheat

Rape seed

61.8 t/ha, 17.8 % pol., 11.0 t SY/ha

9.0 t/ha

4.7 t/ha

71.2 t/ha, 18.13 % pol., 12.9 t SY/ha

8.5 t/ha

4.0 t/ha

Akzente 01/12

17

MARKET AND CLIENTS

SPOTLIGHT ON THE MARKET

Sugar market

Long-term indicators also positive Supply situation for the EU food market remains tense The experts that came together at the ­beginning of December 2011 at the International Sugar Organisation (ISO) were unanimous: a positive development on the world sugar markets can be expected in the long term. The main factor driving this improvement is the continuously growing demand. ISO forecasts global sugar consumption to be 201 million tonnes in 2020. This cor­responds to an annual growth of over two per cent, or an additional production volume of 29 million

of 46 million tonnes and 30 million tonnes respectively. ISO estimated the 2011/12 production in Brazil to be 35 million tonnes, and 28 million tonnes in India.

tonnes compared to the current production of 172 million tonnes in 2011/12.

Around 47 per cent of global consumption in 2020 is forecast to come from the East Asian regions and the Indian subcontinent – including India with 32.7 million tonnes, and China with 22.1 million tonnes.

According to the ISO, consumption in the EU will rise to 19.7 million tonnes by 2020. The main producers according to the ISO forecast will continue to be Brazil and India with predicted production volumes

USDA: Production grew by 4 per cent in 2011/12 The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts global sugar production in the ongoing 2011/12 financial year to be around 168 million tonnes. This corresponds to a growth of around four per cent compared

Sugar production and consumption around the world

Estimated sugar consumption 2020

2000 – 2011

In million tonnes

180

60

World

170

50

India

160

40

China

150

30

EU

20

Brazil

140 6

130 120 110

6

4 2

-3

0 -3

-3

-2

-4

100 2000/01

2002/03

Change in stocks Million tonnes (right-hand scale) Source: USDA

2004/05

2006/07

2008/09

10

1

14.6 10.6

Source: ISO

-20 2010/11

Consumption (in million tonnes, left-hand scale) Production (in million tonnes, left-hand scale)

Current measures implemented by the EU Commission: Release of non-quota sugar:

400,000 tonnes

I mport tender food industry: (up to 12 January 2012)

191,000 tonnes

l

Import tender industrial sugar:

400,000 tonnes, customs-free

l

Export licenses non-quota sugar: 1,350,000 tonnes

l l

18

22.1 19.7

0 -10

-11

USA

201 32.7

MARKET AND CLIENTS

Around 47 per cent of global sugar consumption in 2020 is forecast to come from the East Asian regions and the Indian subcontinent.

to the previous year when production was at around 161 million tonnes. The rise is primarily attributable to excellent harvests in Thailand (10 million tonnes; previous year: 9.6 /plus 5 per cent), Russia (4.8; 2.9/ plus 60 per cent) and the EU (16.7; 15/plus 11 per cent). In the other direction, USDA forecasts that production in Brazil declined by around 7 per cent from 38.3 million tonnes the previous year to 35.75 million tonnes in this financial year. The decline in output by the world’s largest sugar producer

is attributable to the unfavourable weather conditions and a decline in sugar cane productivity. Global consumption in 2011/12 was estimated at 159 million tonnes (156/ plus 2 per cent). Stocks are forecast to grow to 30 million tonnes (29/plus 4 per cent).

EU implements additional steps to ease the market Despite the overall rise in production, the supply situation in the EU food market remains tense because of the low stocks and

the continuing high demand. The growth in production of 3.4 million tonnes in 2011/12 all came from non-quota sugar.

The EU Commission therefore decided to implement measures to ease the market in the current financial year. 400,000 tonnes of non-quota sugar were again released in December 2011 for the EU food market. At the same time, an import tender for the quota sugar market was opened at the end of November 2011. By 12 January 2012, this tender had already attracted 191,000 tonnes at a rate of duty of 252.5 to 270.16 Euro per tonne – instead of the usual 339 Euro per tonne. No other tenders are currently planned in the period up to June 2012.

Customs-free import tenders for a total of 400,000 tonnes of sugar for industrial purposes were invited. In addition, exports of non-quota sugar up to the WTO limit of 1.35 million tonnes were authorised up to January 2012. n

Thordis MĂśller Economics

Low stocks and high demand continue to dominate the quota sugar market in the EU.

Akzente 01/12

19

MARKET AND CLIENTS

How are chocolate pieces made oven-proof? The secret is known by the Herza chocolate specialists in Schleswig-Holstein.

Customer portrait

20 tonnes of chocolate a day – in tiny little pieces A visit to Herza Norderstedt – “You have reached your destination.” The pleasant smell of cacao wafts in my direction as soon as I get out of the car. This is where Herza produces chocolate – not in bars, but in very small pieces. This is intended, because the chocolate produced here in the form of chocolate chips, leaves or drops ends-up in breakfast muesli mixtures, in bakery mixtures, and in Stracciatella ice cream.

Herza boasts a more than 90-year-old company history, making it the oldest German manufacturer of such tiny pieces of chocolate with its own roastery. Sales and Marketing Director Carsten Braumann welcomes me in the office building. He will guide me through the Herza production facilities.

We walk from the office building across the yard into the old factory building. We stop in front of a conveyor belt which transports a dark cacao mixture from under a roller. “When we walked over the yard just now, we passed three large stainless

steel silos. These contain the cacao mass, cacao butter and sugar which we need to produce our chocolate. What you see here is a mixture of these three constituents which has just passed through two rollers and is now being transported by the conveyor belt to the conchers,” explains Braumann.

In the conchers – huge round vessels – two big kneading hooks are stirring the mass. The two hooks in each container stir in opposite directions. More cacao butter is added during the stirring process. “The cacao beans can be used to make either cacao powder, cacao butter or the cacao mass. To produce chocolate, extra cacao butter has to be added to the cacao mass which already contains a certain proportion of cacao butter. This is done during the conching process,” explains Braumann.

The longer the stirring process, the finer the chocolate Conching is the process of stirring for hours at a time at a temperature of around 50 degrees Celsius. “Conching is done in open vessels so that the bitter substances in the cacao volatise as a result of the con-

Chips, leaves, drops: every customer gets its specified chocolate shapes.

20

tinuous stirring and the warm temperatures,” says Braumann. There is a wonderful smell of cacao around the conchers. If you close your eyes it smells like a huge portion of hot drinking chocolate.

The viscous chocolate mass then ­leaves the conchers and heads for Herza’s production lines. This is where the liquid chocolate is converted into thousands and thousands of chocolate flakes, drops and shavings. These are used in breakfast muesli, or baking mixtures and ice creams, or they are sold as baking ingredients.

One of Herza’s specialities is making pieces “oven-proof”. This means that the chocolate does not melt completely when the cake is baked in the oven. Every one of Herza’s customers requires customised chocolate shapes for their products.

If small chocolate flakes are required for instance, the chocolate first has to be rolled out into a sheet. This is done by automatically dripping the chocolate mass out of a stainless steel nozzle onto the production line. A weir – a stainless steel shutter installed over the production line at right angles to the conveyor belt – spreads out the mass over the whole width of the conveyor belt to ensure that the chocolate sheet always has the same uniform thinness.

The sheet is transported metre by metre by the conveyor belt where it cools down in cooling tunnels so that it can be cut up into pieces. To turn the sheet into chocolate chips for your breakfast muesli, the sheet has to be cut twice - longitudinally and transversely. Afterwards the pieces have a width of three to four milimetres and a length of six to eight milimetres for instance.

MARKET AND CLIENTS

Conching is the process of stirring the cacao mass for several hours at 50 degrees Celsius to volatise the bitter substances from the cacao.

Irregular as possible in a regular fashion “Our expertise lies in how to cut the chocolate properly. We are aware of the frustration muesli eaters sometimes experience when the chocolate flakes floating in the milk stick fast to the side of the bowl. To make sure that our flakes don’t do this we make each of the pieces very irregular on a regular basis,” says Carsten Braumann.

Herza produces to order. This means that when a muesli manufacturer or a ­baking mixture producer orders from Herza, it takes around three weeks before the chocolate chips drop into the cake mixture. Around 20 tonnes of chocolate are produced on this basis every day

for customers throughout Germany and beyond. Braumann adds: “This means we process around 50 tonnes of sugar here every week. That is two truck and trailer loads. We are one of the few chocolate manufacturers left that produce their own cacao mass. In this way, we guarantee the constant high quality of our products.

Nordzucker has played its part here for over 20 years as our sugar supplier.” n

Nina Tatter Corporate Communications

Herza Schokolade GmbH und Co. KG M anufacturer of quality chocolate for industrial reprocessing lA lso produces confectionary specialities and baking ingredients lE stablished by Hermann Zapf in 1921 lP art of the Stern-Wywiol Group since 2000 l

Stern-Wywiol Group: lA round 450 employees in Germany, of which 100 in Norderstedt lR evenues in 2011 (consolidated): ­approx. Euro 310 million

90 years of chocolate experience: Herza production in Norderstedt.

Akzente 01/12

21

CoMMUnitY

ErlebnisBauernhof – Nordzucker donates to Welthungerhilfe famine relief organisation ErlebnisBauernhof was opened at the international Green Week in Berlin in January with a special benefit reception. As in the past two years, people were again asked to make donations in 2012 to Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e. V. Hartwig Fuchs handed over a cheque worth Euro 10,000 on behalf of Nordzucker AG to Bärbel Dieckmann the President of the famine relief organisation.

“Ensuring that there is enough food to feed the world is the biggest challenge of the 21st century. The German and European agricultural and food sectors also have a major part to play in this context. Continuing the tradition of making an opening donation is therefore a very heartfelt matter.

I hope that many more will follow in our footsteps so that famine relief benefits as many people as possible,” said Fuchs at the opening in Berlin.

ErlebnisBauernhof is a joint initiative of the German Farmers Association, the information.media.agrar Association, and the Association of Sustainable Agriculture which runs the ErlebnisBauernhof on the initiative’s

On behalf of Nordzucker AG, Hartwig Fuchs handed over a cheque worth Euro 10,000 to Bärbel Dieckmann, President of the Welthungerhilfe famine relief organisation.

behalf. More than 50 other partners are involved, including Nordzucker. Erlebnis Bauernhof provides realistic insights into

the modern farming and food industries in Germany to raise the awareness of the general public about farming. n

www.nordzucker.de relaunch Fresh design and new functionalities for more reading pleasure Whether as an image platform, a classic information service, or direct interaction between customers and companies: a comprehensive website is an indispensable part of every company’s communications activities. Nordzucker has used its website since January 2001 to present all of its facets to employees and shareholders. After an initial reworking of the website aimed primarily at improving the technical aspects, the latest relaunch has focused on the layout and navigation.

New layout and better navigation The green colour dominating the relaunched website creates a lively and modern image.

The background pictures which change depending on the target group make it easier for

22

visitors to navigate through the website. An interactive site map also helps search for location-specific content. Visitors using the internet to search for Nordzucker publications can now make use of the new “leafing function” to virtually leaf through publications such as the latest issue of Akzente. This function enables articles to be found much easier, as well as making reading much more pleasurable.

Attention was paid during the website upgrade to make the pages more functional and more modern. The download centre was also revised to give it a target group-specific structure. enjoy leafing through www.nordzucker.de!

Karoline Pawelczyk

COMMUNITY Rübe

For more fun in school sports: Nordzucker sponsors Phantoms@School Nordzucker has sponsored the Phantoms@School project since October.

This project involves players from the NewYorker Phantoms Bundesliga basketball team and their full-time youth trainer Hakim Attia, taking part in school sports lessons from the 3rd to the 12th form to promote more exercise and more sport in schools. Nordzucker provides the project with additional support in the form of the “Fit through the day” information brochure. This gives tips on healthy and balanced nutrition. “Because exercise and balanced nutrition are especially important for children and young people, we are very happy to be involved. As a food producer, we want to make a contribution to informing children about what needs to be included in a healthy balanced diet,” says Axel Aumüller.

Nordzucker is also the official sponsor of two teams in the German basketball league: in addition to the NewYorker Phantoms from Braunschweig, it also sponsors the Wolfenbüttel Wildcats. This commitment highlights the company’s strong roots in the region.

Daniela Gierth, Corporate Communications

The pupils are all given campaign shirts.

Nordzucker converts Mumme Jelly into a donation for deprived children With a Euro 3,000 donation, Nordzucker AG supported the Christmas initiative of the United Kids Foundation shortly before Christmas. The initiative sends Christmas packages every year with personal presents or food to deprived families in the Braunschweig-Wolfsburg region, as well as satisfying small personal Christmas requests.

Daniela Gierth presented the donation on behalf of Nordzucker AG: “As a company with strong roots in the region, we take our social responsibilities seriously and assist less well-off families in the neighbourhood. This is undertaken with the wholehearted support of the management and the company as a whole.”

The Christmas initiative was able to ­support around 150 families in total reported Steffen Krollmann – executive board chairman of the Volksbank BraWo Foundation. “We were therefore able to assist twice as many families as in 2010. On the one hand, this is

grounds for pleasure because it shows how many people want to do something to help those less fortunate than themselves, on the other hand it also unfortunately demonstrates how many people in our society still require our assistance,” says Krollmann.

The money was collected during a sales campaign at the Mumme-Meile 2011.

Nordzucker lived up to its name as a spe­ cialist for sugar by specially developing the

“Mumme Jelly” for the festival in late autumn.

The success of the product developed by the Nordzucker Innovation & Technology department in Braunschweig was demonstrated by the roaring trade done at the Mumme-Meile: All 1000 jars of jelly were sold.

Daniela Gierth – Nordzucker AG, Sponsoring, officially handing over the cheque to Steffen Krollmann – executive board chairman of the Volksbank BraWo Foundation which manages the work of the children’s network.

Akzente 01/12

23

Pharisee Ingredients: 1 cup of strong coffee 2 SweetFamily sugar cubes 2 Tbsp. rum 1 Tbsp. whipped cream Chocolate shavings for decoration

Preparation: Dissolve the sugar in the hot coffee. Warm up the rum in a pan and add to the coffee in the cup. Cover the drink with a whipped cream topping and decorate with the chocolate shavings.

Did you know ... … that the “Pharisee” drink is supposed to have originated on the North Frisian island of Nordstrand? The story goes that the inventive Frisians wanted to try and trick a particularly ascetic priest. The idea was that the smell of rum would be hidden under the whipped cream topping. But the priest was not fooled so easily and he upbraided his flock as being a hypocritical bunch of Pharisees. That is how the drink got its name.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Nutritional values per portion: approx. 144 kcal 0.8 g protein 13.2 g carbohydrates 4.5 g fat