THE ISCAL GROUP
I
PROFILE
’s Belgium sugary centre O The Iscal Group is an important European sugar manufacturer. With a history dating back over 150 years, the group is now positioned as a major actor of the Belgian sugar industry. The company boasts the most recently built sugar refinery in Europe at the company’s headquarters in Fontenoy which is considered to be one of the best performing factories on the continent – with a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. February 2022 saw the appointment of Robert Torck as CEO of Iscal Sugar, who spoke to Inside Food & Drink’s Jordan Yallop. 94
Inside Food & Drink
perating the most advance factory of its kind in Europe, it’s safe to say Iscal always has its eye on the newest technology, future innovations and sustainability concerns within the sugar sector. These modern solutions are the brainchildren of a company with far older roots, dating back to 1868 when the Moerbeke sugar factory was founded near to the city of Ghent in Belgium. This later led to the creation of Finasucre, a family-owned holding company representing the Moerbeke and Escanaffles sugar factories in Belgium – which remains a powerhouse in the global industrial agri-food sector. Finasucre is operated by the Lippens family. Iscal, as it is today, was born from the 1988 acquisition of the Frasnes sugar factory and the creation of Fontenoy facility which saw its first sugar beet arrive in 1993. The later merger of the Moerbeke, Frasnes, Fontenoy, Wez and Veurne factories solidified the name of Iscal in the industry. It was in 2007 that all of Iscal’s production was centralised into the single facility at Fontenoy, with a processing capacity of 12,000 tonnes of sugar beets per day. 12 years later in 2019, the company’s reins changed hands from father to son. Iscal welcomed Robert Torck as the new CEO in 2022. With more than 20 years in the agri-industrial sector, Mr Torck aims to continue Iscal’s development and make the company the best possible partner that it can be. Almost exclusively focusing on B2B, Iscal produces sugar in seven grain sizes, from extra fine to extra coarse. These various sizes have uses in baking, brewing and even pharmaceuticals. “Olivier Lippens gave over the family business to his son Jérôme. At this point the new generation of the Lippens family was heading