| Marketing relationship B2B | Products General division into food, non-food and feed sectors; Native and modified starches, saccharification products, alcohols/bio-ethanol, by-products (feedstuffs and fertilisers) | Raw materials processed Corn (maize), wheat, potatoes |
| Key markets Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Austria and Germany, as well as the USA (for organic products) Major European producer of custom starch products and bioethanol (with 5 production sites in Central Europe) |
Customers Food sector: food industry; Non-food sector: paper, textile, construction chemicals, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and petroleum industries; Feed sector: feed industry | Special strengths GMO-free and strong organic focus |
Revenue in the ACS – Starch segment was € 982.3 million in 2025|26, a slight decrease from the previous year. One reason for this was a lower sales volume of saccharification products. Another was the accounting-related exclusion of the revenue contribution of the Romanian subsidiary AGFD Tandarei SRL since 1 June 2025, when this company ceased to be fully consolidated and instead became equity-accounted as a joint venture. There was a decline in sales prices primarily for saccharification products, but also for starch products and ethanol. For example, prices for ethanol from the Pischelsdorf plant in Austria fell on lower Platts prices. The ACS – Starch segment’s share of Group revenue was 30.4% (previous year: 28.8%).
At € 23.5 million, EBIT in the ACS – Starch segment was off significantly from the previous year. The main reason for this was the margin decline in ethanol and in saccharification products. In general, while sales prices for core products eased slightly, the raw material prices paid were higher than in the previous year. A positive impact on earnings in 2025|26 came from the compensation under the business interruption insurance for the autumn 2024 flood damage at the Pischelsdorf, Austria, plant. AGRANA’s share of profit from the equity-accounted HUNGRANA group contributed € 1.2 million to segment EBIT (previous year: € 2.3 million). At this Hungarian joint venture, the significant year-on-year increase in corn prices weighed on earnings. AGRANA’s share of the result of the Romanian company AGFD Tandarei SRL, which (since 1 June 2025) was for the first time accounted for using the equity method, was a loss of € 0.6 million.
Further details on the results of the ACS – Starch business are provided in the segment report in the full version of the annual report.
The starch market in the 2025|26 financial year remained in a state of structural oversupply. Persistent overcapacity on the supply side led to significant price erosion, resulting in sustained high pressure on margins despite stable sales volume.
In the food sector, demand remained robust overall, underscoring the end markets’ resilience. At the same time, price competition intensified considerably. For new contracts from 2026 onward, further price concessions will be necessary to secure market share, which will weigh on earnings quality in the short term. Liquid saccharification products, such as glucose syrup and isoglucose, remained under substantial pressure due to their close link to the price of sugar and were clearly in a buyer’s market. The organic segment showed early signs of rallying demand, but remains sensitive in terms of margins and volumes and continues to require consistent market development and strict price discipline.
In the non-food sector, the ongoing economic weakness was particularly reflected in the construction adhesives segment. Demand from the paper and packaging industry remained subdued amid its low machine utilisation rates, volatile call-off volumes and temporary production stoppages. These conditions led to restricted visibility and limited the earnings contributions in the short term. By contrast, the trajectory of the paper adhesives segment was comparatively stable, with the first signs of a cyclical bottoming out.
In the special-nutrition solutions segment, the development of innovative product solutions continued, particularly for infant formula and plant-based special formulations, many of them also in organic grades. The launch of a new organic galacto-oligosaccharide syrup (organic GOS), developed for nutrition in early life and beyond, reflects AGRANA’s ongoing focus on innovation in this segment. Overall, these developments underscore the structurally stable demand for high-value, functional, and plant-based nutritional products.
In by-products, prices for medium-protein feeds remained closely tied to movements in the grain markets; at the same time, customers displayed a pronounced tendency towards short-term purchasing behaviour. High-protein by-products, such as corn gluten, wheat gluten and potato protein, enjoyed stable demand and overall firmer prices.
The European market for fuel ethanol remained under structural pressure. Import volumes of approximately 2.5 million cubic metres in 2025 led to oversupply of about 1 million cubic metres and weighed significantly on the market balance. Blending mandates are rising, but imports too are expected to continue to increase in 2026. At the same time, global export potential remains high: In the USA, idle capacity could be rapidly reactivated, while Brazil continues to expand its production of corn ethanol and is forecasting a good harvest. Although legislative changes are slightly improving the structural environment, market conditions remain volatile and difficult to plan for due to trade conflicts, tariffs, regulatory uncertainty and wars.
The amended EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) was published in the Official Journal on 31 October 2023. It required member states to transpose its main elements into national law by 21 May 2025. The directive significantly raises the EU target for renewable energy: By 2030, at least 42.5% of energy consumed is to come from renewable sources, with a non-binding higher target of 45%. For the first time, RED III contains binding sectoral targets, including for industry, transport and buildings. In industry, the EU directive calls for an annual increase in the share of renewable energy and for the growing use of renewable hydrogen. Alternative target pathways apply to the transport sector, supplemented by binding sub-targets for advanced biofuels and renewable synthetic fuels. In the buildings sector, an indicative target of 49% renewable energy by 2030 has been set.
A key innovation is the lasting acceleration of permitting, i.e., approval processes. RED III provides for shorter deadlines, digitalised processes, and the designation of acceleration zones (areas particularly suitable for renewable energy generation where the environmental impact is expected to be low). Parts of these provisions had to be implemented in national law by July 2024.
For Austria, the requirements of RED III are far more demanding than previous regulations. AGRANA continuously monitors regulatory developments at the EU level.
The EU decision of October 2022 to end new registrations of vehicles with internal combustion engines as of 2035 was noted by AGRANA, but according to current assessments does not pose a relevant risk to bioethanol production. Not only is bioethanol just one of several products made under the circular economy concept of the biorefinery in Pischelsdorf, Austria, but amid the phase-out of fossil products, bioethanol will find uses beyond that in fuels.
Despite the original decision to ban new combustion engines from 2035, the European Commission submitted a new proposal in December 2025 that effectively softens the previous rule. According to current estimates, the new proposal allows for the limited use of ethanol as a petrol additive beyond 2035. Instead of the previously applicable target of “100% CO₂ reduction from 2035” (requiring new cars to have zero emissions), the Commission is now proposing only a 90% CO₂ reduction from 2035. Regardless of these political decisions, bioethanol is likely to become increasingly important in the future outside of traditional fuel applications, particularly in the context of the decarbonisation of industrial value chains and as a component of integrated biorefinery models.
World grain production in the 2025/26 grain marketing year (1 July to 30 June) is forecast1 by the International Grains Council (IGC) at approximately 2,470 million tonnes, which is above the previous year’s level of 2,326 million tonnes. Global consumption in the same period is estimated at about 2,423 million tonnes, thus also exceeding the prior year’s value, which was 2,350 million tonnes.
Total ending grain stocks are to increase to approximately 632 million tonnes (previous year: 585 million tonnes).
During the financial year, wheat prices on the Euronext Paris commodity derivative exchange fell significantly as the 2025 harvest got underway. Corn prices also followed this downward movement, despite a regionally weaker harvest outlook particularly in Southeastern Europe. Key reasons for these price declines were subdued export demand, increased competition from the Black Sea area and overseas, and a strong euro. The price differential between corn and wheat remained largely stable during the financial year. The continued high volatility in the derivatives markets was driven in particular by geopolitical developments in major commodity-exporting countries, alternative high-yield investment options, trade policy measures such as export and import duties, exchange rate movements, and the global supply and demand situation for wheat and corn. At the end of the financial year, wheat was trading at € 198 per tonne and corn at € 215 per tonne on Euronext Paris (previous year: € 222 for wheat and € 221 per tonne for corn).
1 IGC forecast of 19 March 2026.
The potato starch factory at the Gmünd site in Austria processed about 205,000 tonnes (previous year: 175,100 tonnes) of starch potatoes during the 2025|26 financial year. The processing volume of food potatoes for the production of long-life potato products was approximately in line with the previous year. Very good growing conditions led to good yields and above-average starch content for both starch potatoes and food-processing potatoes.
In 2025|26, AGRANA Stärke GmbH processed approximately the same amount of corn at the Austrian sites in Aschach and Pischelsdorf as one year earlier. The share of speciality corn (primarily waxy corn and organic corn) was about 30%.
Wheat milling volume at the Pischelsdorf facility for the production of wheat starch and bioethanol was up about 5% in 2025|26 from the previous year. As with other raw material crops, AGRANA also sourced ethanol grain through delivery contracts concluded with growers in advance.
At the two Austrian sites, a total of around 1.41 million tonnes of corn and other cereals was processed in the financial year (previous year: 1.39 million tonnes).
In Hungary (at the HUNGRANA plant), the corn processing volume in 2025|26 was approximately 937,000 tonnes. The plant in Romania processed about 52,000 tonnes of corn of several varieties.
The ACS – Starch segment invested € 18.5 million during the 2025|26 financial year (previous year: € 33.3 million). The following projects were carried out among others:
The ACS – Starch segment’s share of the Group’s total investment was 18.0%.
Additionally in 2025|26, € 21.1 million (previous year: € 31.7 million) was invested in the equity-accounted joint ventures (the HUNGRANA group and AGFD Tandarei SRL; investment in these entities is stated at 100% of the total).
