Ukrainian sugar factories are capable of producing 2.2 million tons of sugar, but processors are currently unable to sell all their products, so they are maintaining production at 1.2-1.3 million tons. However, this can only happen if domestic consumption returns to pre-war levels and new export markets open up, said Yana Kavushevska, head of the National Association of Sugar Producers of Ukraine “Ukrtsukor.”
“If we have 30 factories that can produce sugar, probably 2.2 million, if we had markets where we could sell this sugar steadily and with some profit that satisfies producers, that would be quite good. This is what we can optimally grow and process. The optimal capacity of existing sugar factories is 2.2 million tons,” she said on Ukrainian Radio.
She noted that the main problem for sugar producers now is export markets, as the domestic market will not be able to absorb the entire volume of production.
“We really hope that the domestic market will recover to at least its pre-war level by 2022. That would be 1.2-1.3 million tons,” Kaushevska said.
The expert clarified that before the full-scale invasion, even after the loss of part of the territories in Donetsk, Luhansk regions, and Crimea, domestic sugar consumption in Ukraine amounted to 1.2-1.3 million tons. However, after the start of the full-scale invasion, domestic consumption fell to 900,000 tons. Thanks to the opening of the European market during the autonomous trade measures (2022-2024 – IF-U), sugar producers were able to supply 300,000 tons to Europe.
“We now have restrictions (on sugar supplies to the EU – IF-U), and accordingly, we need to decide where to send these 300,000 tons,” she said.
The head of Ukrtsukor stated that in 2025, Ukrainian farmers reduced the area under sugar beet cultivation to 220,000 hectares, which is 15.4% less than last year’s figures.
According to her, Ukrainian processors were very disappointed with the quotas for sugar supplies to the European Union, which were announced in the spring of 2025 and were planned at 67,000 tons. Currently, this volume has been increased to 107,000 tons of sugar, but in previous years, deliveries to the EU reached 473,000 tons.
The head of the industry association recalled that in 2024, the sugar industry showed record export figures – over 740,000 tons, thanks to which Ukraine received over $420 million.
