The Agrana Group is a

food company The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

based in Vienna that produces

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

, fruit preparation,

juice concentrate A concentrate is a form of substance that has had the majority of its base component (in the case of a liquid: the solvent) removed. Typically, this will be the removal of water from a solution or suspension, such as the removal of water from f ...

and ethanol fuel. Agrana is mainly supplying to international food industry, with some minor end customer business. A known brand is Wiener Zucker. Agrana runs around 50 facilities with major production bases in Australia, Austria, Argentina, Brasil, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Korea, Morocco, Mexico, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine, United States. In 2021, Agrana ranked 6th in the modified starch category of FoodTalks' Global Food Thickener Companies list.

History

Agrana was founded in 1988 as a holding company for the Austrian sugar and Starch industry. Operations started with 3 sugar plants (Tulln, Leopoldsdorf and Hohenau), a potato starch plant (Gmünd) and a

corn starch Corn starch, maize starch, or cornflour (British English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken sauces or sou ...

plant (Aschach). Company history should however be considered dating back to 1902, when raw sugar production started in Leopoldsdorf. Similarly, sugar production in Tulln had started in 1937. The company went public on the Vienna Stock Exchange in 1991. In 1990, Agrana took stakes in sugar and starch plants in Hungary, and investment in neighbouring countries followed. From 2003 to 2005, Agrana started reducing its sugar business due to European Union quotas, and diversified in the fruit processing and juice concentrates businesses, acquiring several companies: Steirerobst, Vallosaft, Wink, Atys... As of 2012, Agrana operated 9 sugar plants, 5 starch plants and 37 processing sites for fruits throughout central Europe.

Shareholders

75,5% of Agrana shares belong to ''Z&S Zucker und Stärke Holding AG'', a 100% subsidiary of ''Agrana Zucker, Stärke und Frucht Holding AG''. 24,5% is in free float. German company Südzucker AG and ''Zucker-Beteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H.'' each hold a 50% stake in ''Agrana Zucker, Stärke und Frucht Holding AG''. In turn, ''Zucker-Beteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H.''s main stakeholders is the Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien, with a 78,31% stake. Remaining capital is in the hands of Marchfelder Zuckerfabriken GesmbH, Estezet Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Rübenproduzenten Beteiligungs GesmbH and the Leipnik-Lundenburger Invest Beteiligungs AG.

Group of companies

Agrana Sugar (''Agrana Zucker Gmbh.'')

* includes companies: :# ''Moravskoslezské cukrovary s.r.o.'' ( Czech Republic) :# ''Magyar Cukor Zrt.'' (Hungary) :# ''Slovenské cukrovary s.r.o.'' ( Slovakia) :# ''S.C. Agrana Romania S.A.'' ( Romania); * 10 production facilities in Central Europe; * revenues: €684 million; * number of employees: 2,336; * processed 4,700,000 tons of

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...

and 180,000 tonnes of raw

Agrana Starch (''Agrana Stärke Gmbh.'')

* includes companies: :# ''Hungrana Kft.'' (Hungary) :# ''S.C.A.F.D. Tandarei S.R.L.'' ( Romania) :# ''Agrana Bioethanol Gmbh'' (Austria); * 5 production facilities in Central Europe; * revenues: €499 million; * number of employees: 880; * processed 190,000 tons of

potatoes and 820,000 tonnes of

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

;

Agrana Fruit (''Agrana J & F Holding Gmbh.'')

* includes companies: :# ''Agrana Fruit S.A.S.'' (France) :# ''Agrana Juice Holding Gmbh'' (Austria); * 37 production facilities worldwide; * revenues: €806 million; * number of employees: 4,711; * processed 940,000 tons of fruits.

Research and development

The company '' Agrana Research & Innovation Center'' is an AGRANA 100% subsidiary responsible for research and development for sugar, fruit, starch and bioethanol.

References

{{Authority control Food and drink companies based in Vienna Manufacturing companies based in Vienna Sugar companies Starch companies Agriculture companies of Austria Food and drink companies established in 1988 Manufacturing companies established in 1988 Austrian companies established in 1988