BRITISH Sugar in York has ended its 75th "campaign" with a triumph.

Factory manager Sharif Hassanein said that the five-month rush to both harvest and process the beet crop, known as the campaign, was the best ever. The campaign normally lasts 158 days, this year it took 145 days

This year the average daily tonnage of processed beet was 8,914 tonnes, smashing the previous record at the York Boroughbridge Road plant of 8,623 tonnes per day set during the 1998-99 campaign.

Mr Hassanein said: "It was terrific that we broke the record in such a milestone year as our 75th anniversary."

As many as 1,600 growers were paid out a record £40m - it was £37m last year - but that was determined by the EU fixed prices.

Last year's winter floods meant delayed drilling and therefore lower beet yields, with just 1.3m tonnes being processed at the factory, resulting in 13,000 tonnes of sugar.

Updated: 11:38 Thursday, March 07, 2002