REUTERS
A total of 31 sugar refineries were in operation in Ukraine as of October 16.
Ukrainian sugar refineries have produced 496,700 tonnes of sugar since August 30, 2019, when the current sugar production season began with the launch of a sugar refinery in Lviv region's Radekhiv district.
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"As of October 15, some 496,700 tonnes of sugar had been produced and 3.46 million tonnes of sugar beets had been processed," the press service of the National Association of Sugar Producers of Ukraine (NASU) Ukrtsukor said on October 16.
As reported, 31 sugar refineries out of the planned 32 were in operation in Ukraine as of October 16.
As UNIAN reported earlier, wholesale prices of sugar in the 2019-2020 marketing year (MY, September 2019-August 2020) may grow by 18% to UAH 13,000 (US$526) per tonne due to a decline in the country's sugar production.
The NASU earlier said that a poor yield of sugar beets in Ukraine caused by heavy rains could lead to a reduction in sugar production in 2019, to 1.1 million tonnes.
Ukrtsukor says the areas under sugar beet crops in 2019 shrank by a quarter from 2018.
Ukrainian enterprises during the sugar refining season of MY 2018-2019 reduced sugar output by 15%, to 1.7 million tonnes.