Today's Brottewitz factory was founded and built as "Actien Zuckerfabrik Mühlberg a. E." in 1872/73. The plant is located in Brottewitz, which is part of the small town of Mühlberg on the Elbe River. The town is situated between the larger towns of Riesa and Torgau, which are also on the east bank of the Elbe River. The Brottewitz mill is currently the state of Brandenburg's only sugar factory. Südzucker has owned the plant since 1991. It has since been extensively renovated and expanded and presently has a processing capacity of 6,000 tonnes of beets per day.

During the course of the beet harvest, about seventy percent of the beets are made into white sugar, while the remaining thirty percent are converted to beet syrup, an intermediate product that can be stored. The stored beet syrup is converted to crystallized white sugar during the beet syrup campaign, which takes place between spring and summer of the following year. The factory operates around the clock during the beet campaign between the end of September and end of December, as well as during the beet syrup campaign. Up to 750 tonnes of crystallized white sugar can be produced per day. In other words, every four seconds, the factory can make enough sugar to satisfy the annual requirements of a German citizen. The factory can produce enough sugar in one year to satisfy the needs of 2.7 million consumers. The sugar silos and warehouses can accommodate 27,000 tonnes of sugar.

The heat and electrical energy required for the production process are generated by an on-site cogeneration plant, which burns locally sourced lignite. Modern flue gas desulfurization and dust collection systems and a multistage wastewater treatment plant ensure compliance with strict environmental protection regulations.

During the campaign, about 110 people are employed at the plant. The number drops to 90 during the off-season. The workforce consists of specialists who are qualified to handle the engineering and process aspects of sugar extraction, as well as the repair and maintenance of the ultramodern technical systems.

About 550 farms covering a total area of 9,000 hectares are contracted to plant sugar beets for the factory. The area covered spans from the Dübener Heide to Nossen on the west side and right to the state border on the east and south sides. The delivered sugar beets are inspected for quality and sugar content. Südzucker and the farmers have worked as a team to successfully improve the economics and environmental soundness of beet cultivation, and their efforts are widely recognized. The farmers cultivate and are paid for the supplied beets under contract to Südzucker. The agreements are largely defined by the EU sugar market regulations.

The Brottewitz sugar mill is an important industrial location in a region that relies mainly on income from agricultural products. Not only does it provide jobs for the local residents, it also enters into partnerships with the farmers and has contracts with tradespeople and service providers.