Who we are Today

In October 2010, American Sugar Holdings (ASR Group) acquired the EU sugar refining businesses of Tate & Lyle PLC, namely Tate & Lyle Sugars in the UK and Sidul in Portugal.

This was an important milestone, as these operations are now part of the world’s largest cane sugar refining company with operations in North America, Central America and Europe.

The European businesses have approximately 1,300 direct and contract employees (inc. shares in joint ventures) manufacturing sugar at our three refineries and associated manufacturing sites. The cane sugar supply chain which supplies them stretches across the world.

The business focuses principally on bringing speciality sugars and functional ingredients made from sugar cane to the EU marketplace – a market dominated by sugar produced from domestically grown sugar beet under Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy.

EU Market

Today, approximately 55 million tonnes of sugar are traded annually across borders worldwide. The main exporter (of raw or refined cane sugar) is Brazil, followed by Thailand and Australia; India is also often a significant exporter. None of these countries benefit from duty free access to the European Union.

A limited number of countries with a historic supply relationship with the EU and which are small cane sugar producers – known principally as ACP countries and LDCs – are given special rights to export sugar to the EU exempt from any import duty.