KYIV. July 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The national sugar producers’ association Ukrtsukor predicts that sugar production would grow by 40% in the 2016/17 agricultural year (September-August), to 2 million tonnes.
“We could receive around 2 million tonnes of sugar this year,” Ukrtsukor Head Andriy Dykun said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He said that Ukraine made 2.08 million tonnes of sugar in the 2014/15 agri-year and 1.43 million tonnes in the 2015/16 agri-year.
Sugar production would expand, as the areas planted with sugar beats this year expanded by 25-30% and the yield improved thanks to good weather.
Ending sugar stocks are estimated at 600,000 tonnes.
Dykun expressed alarm with the intents of the Agrarian Fund to sell 60,000 tonnes of sugar on the domestic market, as this would push down the prices.
He expressed hope that the Ukrainian government would annul sugar price regulation and declaration of prices.
He said that since early 2016 Ukraine has exported 46,000 tonnes of sugar, and 40% of it went to Romania.
According to the association’s forecasts, the cash cost of sugar production in the 2016/16 agri-year could be UAH 15 per kilogram, and now wholesale prices of sugar are UAH 12.50-14 per kilogram.
