NFU Sugar and British Sugar have sealed the 2026/27 sugar beet contract, offering growers a variety of flexible options to help them manage rising costs and market uncertainty.
The deal provides fixed and market-linked pricing, index-linked contracts, and additional protections such as yield insurance, transport allowances, and interest-free cash advances—giving growers security and choice in a challenging year.
Growers can choose a one-year fixed price contract at £30 per tonne for up to 65% of their contract. Alternatively, there is a one-year contract with a guaranteed base price of £25 per tonne, plus a market-linked bonus for up to 100% of the contract.
An index-linked contract, previously referred to as ‘futures-linked’, is available for up to 50% of the contract. A Yield Protection contract is also offered, which applies a £1 per tonne reduction on the fixed and market-linked bonus contract prices.
The contract includes a transport allowance of up to 60 miles for all factories and a one-year contract holiday for up to 750kt CTE, allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Additional benefits include an interest-free cash advance, a late delivery payment, and complimentary frost insurance.
NFU Sugar board chair Kit Papworth said: “I am pleased we have managed to come to a negotiated agreement with British Sugar for the 2026/27 sugar beet contract.
“This deal offers growers choices to suit individual business circumstances and balances challenging sugar market conditions and the increasing costs and risks of growing sugar beet here in the UK.”
Keith Packer, managing director of British Sugar, added: “This year’s contract is the product of many months of hard work with NFU Sugar, giving growers much-needed security and certainty at what is a volatile time for farm businesses.
“We’re offering valuable options which include an interest-free cash advance, a market-linked bonus for a share of the upside when the market is favourable, and an index-linked contract for those with a greater appetite for risk and reward.”
