If the EU were a single country, it would be the third-largest producer of sugar in the world, behind India and Brazil. In the 2022/2023 crop year, the EU is expected to produce 16.3 million metric tons of sugar. That is down by about 250,000 tons as European farmers switch from sugarbeet to more profitable crops. The EU is actually the world's largest producer of beet sugar, which makes up 20% of the world's total sugar production. Beet sugar is primarily produced in northern Europe, including northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland.