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A total of 33 sugar refineries, which processed 9.84 million tonnes of sugar beets, were operating, the expert says.
Ukrainian sugar refineries have reduced sugar production since September 1, 2019, the start of the current season and marketing year (MY, September 2019-August 2020) as of January 10, 2020, to 1.38 million tonnes, which was 19% down from the figure reported as of January 10, 2019.
Read alsoUkraine produces almost 1.4 mln tonnes of sugar since Sept 1
"A total of 33 sugar refineries, which processed 9.84 million tonnes of sugar beets, were operating. This is almost 30% less than a year earlier. A significant decrease in the amount of raw materials led to a reduction in production capacities and, as a result, a decrease in sugar output in general," said Deputy Chair of the Board of the National Association of Sugar Producers of Ukraine (NASU) Ukrtsukor, Ruslana Yanenko, as reported by the Association's press service.
According to the expert, such a result is predictable, as the global sugar surplus, which was observed in the past three years, has significantly affected the Ukrainian market. As a result, Ukraine cut its acreage under sugar beets by 20%, reducing the amount of raw materials.
Moreover, nine processing plants have failed to start production this year, while the production season has been reduced by almost a month, which will affect the cost of sugar production since a sugar refinery must operate a minimum of 100 days to cover the cost of the production launch, Yanenko said.
The leaders in sugar production are Vinnytsia region with 331,900 tonnes, Khmelnytsky region (192,800 tonnes), and Ternopil region (186,400 tonnes), the report said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the sugar production season of MY 2019-2020 began with the launch of a sugar refinery in Lviv region's Radekhiv district.
Ukrainian enterprises during the sugar refining season of MY 2018-2019 (September 2019-August 2020) reduced sugar output by 15%, to 1.7 million tonnes.