Tereos is a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

conglomerate, primarily active in the processed agricultural raw materials, in particular

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 Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

and

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 diet ...

markets. It has 44 factories in 9 countries, including

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, Kenia,

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and employs about 20.000 people. The company is headquartered in Moussy-le-Vieux, France.

History

In 1932, the Origny-Sainte-Benoite cooperative

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

was founded in the

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; ) is a French departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne (river), Aisne. In 2020, it had a population of 529,374. Geography The department borders No ...

department of northern France by a number of farmers under the leadership of Paul Cavenne. The factory processed 400 tonnes of

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

per day. About twenty years later, Jean Duval, managing director of the cooperative, converted the distillery into a

sugar factory Sugar factory may refer to: Industry * Beet sugar factory, a factory that produces raw sugar from sugar beet and refines it * Sugarcane mill, a factory that produces raw sugar from sugar cane and refines it * Sugar refinery A sugar refine ...

, which was able to process 900 tonnes of sugar per day. In the 1990s, the Origny cooperative merged with that of Vic-sur-Aisne, which operate a sugar plant that handled 5,500 tonnes of sugar beet per day. The new entity was named SDA (Sucreries et Distilleries de l’Aisne). A year later, it acquired the Berneuil sugar factory in south-western France. The acquisition of the leading French sugar producer, Béghin-Say from the Italian company Edison, in 2002, marked a turning-point. The combination of the two companies made the new cooperative group a French market leader with 9,500 cooperative growers. Tereos was born. In 2006, Tereos merged with the cooperative group SDHF (Sucreries et Distilleries des Hauts de France). This extended the Group's business and strengthened its leadership on the French market. In 2008, Tereos acquires, via subsidiary Syral, 5 starch and

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

factories in West-Europe from Talfiie (Tate & Lyle Food & Industrial Ingredients Europe), subsidiary of the company

Tate & Lyle Tate & Lyle Public Limited Company is a British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage products to food and industrial markets. It was originally a sugar refining business, but from the 1970s, it began to diversify, eventually dive ...

. In 2016, the Connantre sugar beet cooperative (Tereos Group) joined forces with the cooperative, APM Déshy, allowing Tereos to expand its business into

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

processing, with four dehydration plants in north-eastern France (in

Anglure Anglure () is a commune in the Marne department in northeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Marne department The following is a list of the 610 communes in the French department of Marne. The communes cooperate in th ...

, Aulnay-aux-Planches, Montépreux and Pleurs). Tereos SCA was created in 2018. The 12,000 cooperative grows now all belong to a single cooperative. In 2021, Tereos was ranked fifth overall on FoodTalks' Top 50 Global Sweetener Companies list. In January 2022, Tereos announced the sale of its 11% stake in its joint venture with Axereal dedicated to malt as well as the closure of its sugar activities in Romania. In February, Tereos also announced the closure of its activities in Mozambique. In February 2023, Tereos announced the sale of its activities in Romania to two local players.

Activities

The Tereos product portfolio covers the markets of food, animal feed, green chemistry, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, paper and cardboard, and energies.

Controversies

In recent years Tereos has been mired in controversy after several news reports highlighted the company's involvement in a number of dubious events. In 2019, a complaint was filed against the firm for allegedly supplying an artificial sweetener to

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, where it is being used to make weapons. In 2020, the region of

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

accused the company of a leak in its sugar beet refinery, causing 50-70 tonnes of fish to die in the Belgian territory.Major pollution of Scheldt river came from France
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References

{{Authority control Alcohol fuel producers French companies established in 1999 Food manufacturers of France Cooperatives in France Sugar companies Starch companies Companies based in Hauts-de-France Sugar industry of France