Nordzucker, the German owner of Nordic Sugar, announced Tuesday that it will end sugar production at the 144-year-old factory in Nakskov on Lolland. The closure takes effect from January 2027 and affects the plant’s 150 employees.
The announcement came two years after a state-financed gas pipeline was completed to the western tip of Lolland-Falster, partly to secure the same jobs. That is reported by Dagbladet Information, which notes that Nordic Sugar will keep only its plant in Nykøbing Falster.
The Nakskov site has processed sugar beets since 1882. According to Information, the bill for the 115-kilometer pipeline from southern Zealand ran to about 1.5 billion kroner.
In 2021, then climate, energy and utilities minister Dan Jørgensen said the pipeline was needed to protect threatened jobs and to secure the green transition in all parts of Denmark. His statement was published by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities.
Brian Vad Mathiesen, professor of energy planning at Aalborg University, had warned before construction that he had never seen a worse business case. He tells Information that the closure is tragic for the workers who believed their jobs were secured, and for the whole region.
The consultancy Ea Energianalyse reached a similar conclusion in a 2022 memo, finding that full or partial electrification of the sugar factories would probably give the best result for both the company and society. Nordic Sugar was skeptical of full electrification, partly because its financing was less certain than a state-funded pipeline, Information writes.
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Hans Henrik Lindboe, partner at Ea Energianalyse, tells Information that no one can be certain electrification would have kept both factories running. He points to Energy Ministry projections that Danish gas consumption must fall by a third within ten years. TV2 reported in February 2025 that Nordic Sugar was the pipeline’s only customer.
Nordzucker cites overcapacity
In its press release, Nordzucker attributes the decision to persistent structural overcapacity in the European sugar industry. The company states that Nakskov would require significantly higher investments than other sites to stay efficient and profitable.
Danish production will instead be concentrated at the Nykøbing Falster factory, which Nordzucker says will be fully used. The Nakskov facilities are planned to continue as a packaging and service center for sugar, as also noted by The Copenhagen Post and Maskinbladet.
Production will stop after the 2026/27 beet campaign, according to the company. Ekstra Bladet reports that the move follows earlier Nordzucker decisions in 2026 to close a factory in Slovakia and to stop raw sugar refining in Finland.
