Shock for Leopoldsdorf: Sugar factory closes! 270 jobs in danger!

Shock for Leopoldsdorf: Sugar factory closes! 270 jobs in danger!

Leopoldsdorf, Österreich - The Austrian sugar group Agrana plans the painful closure of its sugar factories in Leopoldsdorf and Hrušovany, which threatens a total of about 270 jobs. The company announced this on Wednesday after the Supervisory Board had made a corresponding decision. Agrana boss Stephan Büttner emphasized that this step was "difficult but necessary" to ensure the long-term competitiveness and stability of domestic sugar production. The reasons for this drastic measure are diverse: increasing production costs, a decline in sugar consumption in the EU and market liberalizations make the continuation of production at the locations concerned uneconomically, such as Vol.at reported.

in the future only one location

After closure, the entire sugar production of Agrana in Austria is only bundled at the Tulln location, while in the Czech only the factory in Opava is continued. The sugar factory in Leopoldsdorf, which had already struggled with problems in the past, is thus closed after more than 100 years. However, Agrana announced support for the employees concerned, including retraining and qualification programs as well as individual severance payments to enable smooth transition to new jobs. These measures are intended to help manage the serious challenges with which the employees are confronted, as can be read by noe.orf.at

The closure is viewed by many as a dramatic cut for domestic agriculture. The Presidents of the Chamber of Agriculture asked the political leadership to act because the beet farmers will face considerable economic challenges. The decline in the beet constraints for the production of local sugar is also already being planned, since the Agrana wants to drastically reduce the areas for 2025. Experts also warn that the sugar from Ukraine further restricts the market opportunities for domestic sugar, which could further tighten the market conditions.