Tereos sees EU sugar output falling to 38-year low as severe weather hits beet crops

PARIS, Aug 26 (Reuters) - French sugar maker Tereos expects this summer's extreme heat and drought to reduce its growers' ‌sugar beet yields by more than 20% compared with ‌last year, contributing to an anticipated 38-year low for EU sugar output, the ​company said on Wednesday.

• Sugar beet is among summer crops, such as maize and potatoes, to have suffered badly from extreme weather in Europe.

• Tereos said beet yields for its French growers were also expected to be ‌about 15% below the ⁠average of the past five seasons.

• In response to the weather-hit crop, Tereos plans to shorten its ⁠sugar production campaign at its eight French factories to 100 days on average compared with 130 days last year, it said in ​a statement.

• ​Tereos will also delay the ​start of the campaign to ‌allow beet crops to potentially gain some yield.

• Tereos said sugar prices were recovering after two years of decline, which had led to lower profits for the company and European rivals.

• The expected tightening of supply and a decline in planting should help ‌the market rebalance.

• "Today, we are seeing ​the first signs of a rise in ​sales prices, which should ​enable the sector to return to a more ‌balanced level of performance," Pierre-Henri Dietz, ​Tereos' commercial director, ​said in the statement.

• In a joint statement on Tuesday, Tereos and other French producers warned that sugar beet production ​could be more ‌than 20% below average, with the impact of heat ​and drought exacerbated by pest and disease pressure.

(Reporting by ​Gus Trompiz; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)