Zuckerindustrie#

Sugar Industry: Before sugar beet was introduced in Austria, cane sugar was imported from India and the Austrian sugar industry was confined to the refining of white sugar. The first Austrian sugar plant was founded under Empress Maria Theresia in the free port of Fiume/Rijeka in 1750. After 1810, cane sugar began to be replaced by beet sugar and the Marchfeld Plain became the main area in which sugar beet was cultivated (sugar plant at Duernkrut, Leopoldsdorf and Hohenau). The sugar industry experienced a great upswing during the reign of Franz Josef, with the main production sites in the Sudetenland. Sugar became an important export item of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and only 6 out of the 218 factories were located in the territory of contemporary Austria: Duernkrut (built in 1867), Hohenau (1868), Leopoldsdorf (1867) and Bruck an der Leitha (1909) in Lower Austria; Hirm and Siegendorf in Burgenland (1852). New factories were established at Enns (1929) and Tulln (1937) during the era of the First Republic. The 3 remaining sugar plants at Tulln, Leopoldsdorf and Hohenau were merged into the AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG in 1994, which also owns 2 starch factories at Gmuend and Aschach. Sugar production in 1997/98 amounted to about 483,900 t of white sugar. The annual production output depends on the weather, with hot and dry summers leading to smaller crops. The Austrian sugar harvest and processing season lasts from October until January.