The processing campaign of potatoes in the Emsland-starch factory in German Kyritz is going well. Now at the half way period of the campaign already about 110,000 tons have been processed in the meantime. That is 50 percent of the contract quantity. "We have a very good harvest this year. The starch content in the potatoes is high, namely 19.5 percent," manager Stefan Hannemann says. Compared to last year when the percentage was only 18.4 percent. Stefan is sure that the higher starch percentage is the result of the good weather conditions.
On 13 August the campaign started and with that the most labour intensive period of the year in the factory. Possibly the campaign will be finished in the middle of January. Up to then the company will process about 200,000 tons of potatoes. Out of this 50,000 tons of starch will be processed. About 35 percent of the starch will already be processed further during the campaign. The remaining 65 percent only later. Customers are mainly from the foodstuff industry.
Before the start of the campaign the equipment is maintained thoroughly and also rebuilt. In addition the company invested in the improvement of hygiene and reduction in the use of energy. Further investments to the total of two million Euro are planned for next year. For the refining, which is the cleaning, of the starch the plans are to start using a different technique in the future.