Developments in the Polish sugar industry

The Polish sugar industry has a long and varied history. It began in the early nineteenth century, and was nationalised in 1945, During the centrally-planned era both beet agriculture and processing facilities were chronically underfunded, This changed in 1988, when the process of privatisation began, albeit,vith confused and sometimes self-contradictory legislation. Nevertheless, investment has been stepped up, and long-overdue rationalisation and modernisation is now under way, focusing on beet agriculture, factory automation, efficient use of energy and water, and improvement of sugar quality to compete with the best in the world.