Polish sugar prices fall 17.3% as farmers seek dumping investigation

Price gap prompts call for investigation

Polish sugar prices have fallen 17.3%, compared with a 2.7% decline in the European Union average, according to data from the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics cited by AgroNews and top agrar. Over the same period, prices in Germany rose 2.6%. The unusually wide difference between neighboring markets has prompted Polish farmers’ representatives to question whether surplus sugar is being sold in Poland at artificially low prices.

At the request of the Piła district council, the Wielkopolska Chamber of Agriculture asked the National Council of Agricultural Chambers to contact the Ministry of Agriculture. It wants an official assessment of the price divergence and checks on whether foreign trading or processing companies are selling sugar below production cost. The chamber suspects Central and Eastern European markets may be used to dispose of excess volumes, but the source material presents no evidence establishing that dumping has occurred.

Poland itself produces more sugar than it consumes. Estimated output stands at 2 million to 2.1 million tonnes, creating a surplus that can independently weigh on prices. Agricultural chambers argue, however, that domestic oversupply does not fully explain the scale of the decline.

Lower sugar prices reach beet contracts

Market data for April 2026 show pressure at several points in the supply chain. The selling price of one category of packaged sugar fell 1.9% from March to 2.59 PLN (€0.60) per kilogram and was 9.6% lower year on year. Another packaged-sugar measure declined 2.8% month on month to 2.42 PLN (€0.56) per kilogram, although it remained 0.8% above April 2025.

In retail stores, the average sugar price was 2.73 PLN (€0.73) per kilogram in April, down 3.2% from March and 14.5% from a year earlier. Consumers benefit from cheaper sugar, but factories facing lower final-product prices are offering less for sugar beet, particularly beet associated with surplus sugar. Terms on new contracts are also deteriorating.

The Wielkopolska chamber says profitability is declining as labor, fuel, fertilizer, crop-protection and transport costs rise while beet prices fall. Growers that expanded acreage or invested in specialized harvesting and transport machinery are particularly exposed because lower returns extend investment payback periods. Sugar beet had previously been one of the crops providing relatively stable farm income.

Global supply outweighs declining Ukrainian imports

Ukrainian sugar is frequently cited in the market debate, but its recent share has decreased sharply. EU imports from Ukraine totaled about 148,000 tonnes after trade liberalization in 2022 and rose to nearly 490,000 tonnes in 2023. Following administrative restrictions, imports from September 2024 through July 2025 fell to about 112,000 tonnes, 79% below the previous year. AgroNews therefore argues that Ukrainian supply was not the principal cause of the latest declines in Poland or the wider EU.

Global production offers a broader explanation. USDA data show world sugar output increased 2.9% in the 2024/2025 season, led by Brazil and India. The FAO Sugar Price Index in September 2025 was 21% below its year-earlier level and at its lowest since March 2021. Abundant global supply and stable stocks are limiting the prospect of a European price recovery.

The European Commission forecasts EU sugar production will fall 7% in 2025/2026 as sugar-beet area contracts about 11%. In Poland, the Central Statistical Office estimates that a 7% acreage reduction may have lowered the beet harvest about 8% to 16.9 million tonnes. Producers are also concerned about the EU-Mercosur agreement and question whether its safeguard mechanism could react quickly enough. Persistently weak prices could drive further acreage cuts, farm exits and reduced capacity across Poland’s domestic sugar industry.