About 90 Employees to Be Laid Off from Sugar Factory in Trencianska Tepla

Trencianska Tepla, February 5 (TASR) - More than 90 employees will be laid off from the sugar factory in the municipality of Trencianska Tepla (Trencin region) in connection with the termination of sugar production and sugar beet processing, chairman of the Board of Directors of sugar factory Povazsky cukor Michal Abelovic told a briefing on Thursday, adding that some of them won't come to work on Friday (6 February). "Employees whose job was to start maintenance and preparations for the new beet campaign, which will no longer take place, won't come to work on Friday. They will receive their average salary until 18 March. ... We'll then agree on further steps and compensation with representatives of the basic trade union organisation," said Abelovic. Company Povazsky cukor in Trencianska Tepla will cease sugar production and sugar beet processing. The company will continue and expand its activities as a commercial and logistics centre supplying the domestic market and other markets in south-eastern Europe. According to Abelovic, the main reason for stopping sugar beet processing and sugar production in Trencianska Tepla is climate change, which is pushing the sugar beet growing zone further and further north. "Climate change has brought a number of sugar beet pathogens in recent years, and yields have been declining. In 2024, we expected to produce 100,000 tonnes of sugar, but we only produced 80,000 tonnes. Despite the support that sugar beets receive via payments, sugar beet production among growers is not what they expected," added Abelovic. The sugar factory in Trencianska Tepla is the southernmost sugar factory owned by Germany's Nordzucker Group. It is also the only one of the company's 15 sugar factories in Europe where sugar production will be discontinued. am