Greencore: No interest in sugar industry return

Greencore has no ambitions to return to sugar production despite the new Government saying it will offer State support to prospective sugar beet processors — when sugar quotas expire in 2017 — in a bid to rebuild the industry here.

Speaking yesterday, on the back of a strong set of interim results, Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney gave an emphatic “no” in relation to the idea.

Greencore — formerly Irish Sugar — still has land in Carlow and Mallow where it used to produce sugar, but sold out of its joint venture which made the Siúcra and McKinney’s sugar brands to partner Nordzucker in 2009.