Transports to Sugar Factory by Rail Cargo Hungaria

Rail Cargo Hungaria (RCH) has started to deliver sugar beet to the Kaposvár factory of Magyar Cukor Plc., the company informed MTI on Tuesday. The raw material for sugar production is transported by RCH by rail, while about half of the harvest reaches the factory by road.

The market-leading rail freight company will transport 450,000 to 470,000 tons of product from about 40 Hungarian dispatch stations to the only sugar factory in Hungary by the end of January 2024, they noted.

They added that the company's trains will cover more than 150,000 kilometers during the 125-130 days of the processing campaign, with an average of four sugar beet trains a day on the Hungarian rail network, and that Rail Cargo Hungaria trains will occasionally transport crops from more than 450 kilometers away.

The company pointed out that the price of electricity for traction has fallen compared to last year's campaign period, but is still several times higher than in previous years.

In addition, a number of track renewal works on the railway infrastructure make rail transport more difficult and expensive than road transport and challenge the company, they pointed out.

Rail Cargo Hungaria stressed that the implementation of the campaign requires a high level of logistical organization from the company in order to be able to meet the increased transport demand.

The company pointed out that Hungarian farmers have sown 14,000 hectares of sugar beet for the factory this year, a significantly larger area than last year.

Favorable weather until August resulted in a high average yield of around 62-65 tons per hectare, with the sugar content of the crop expected to be average, the statement said.