Changes in sugar beet production in the Czech Republic and Poland after the year 2000

After the EU 2006 policy reform, EU sugar industry was undergoing fascinating development. The main aim of the contribution was to compare, how changes influenced sugar beet producers in the Czech Republic and Poland. In Poland, farmers were able to increase the average size of cultivated land while number of farmers decreased by 70%, yields and sugar content improved. In the Czech Republic, no significant improvement in average area per grower and sugar content was noticed, improvement was observed in the yield and total production. Most of the beet production is located close to sugar refineries, due to logistics constraints. Czech farms operate under higher costs and lower per hectare profit margin. Producer are operating under almost perfect competition, as Herfindahl-Hirschman index for producers is equal to 29.96 and 3.12 for the Czech Republic and Poland respectively. Distribution of sugar beet area among farmers, measured by the Gini coefficient, is qualified as very highly unequal. In both markets, differences in market powers exists. Dominance of Retail and Sugar producers over sugar-beet growers exists. Average price of beet has an increasing trend, although share of beet price on sugar price stagnated. After the end of the sugar quota system in 2017, growers will face pressure to further decrease the price of beet, as the price of sugar is expected to be down due to higher sugar supply. Improving production efficiency will be required.