Ukraine cuts sugar exports by over 50% in April

Ukraine's National Association of Sugar Producers "Ukrsugar" says the country in April 2020 reduced sugar exports by over 50%, to 9,100 tonnes against 19,600 tonnes posted in March 2020.

"At the end of March, we saw some recovery ay the London Stock Exchange. As a result, the demand for Ukrainian sugar grew slightly and producers were able to supply almost 20,000 tonnes of sugar to the foreign markets to which we exported one or two years ago: Libya (7,000 tonnes), Turkey (4,800 tonnes), and Palestine (3,700 tonnes)," the Association's press service said on May 19.

"But in April, the global developments, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the exchange rate change created unfavorable conditions for Ukrainian producers, so we returned to the usual volumes for the month at 9,100 tonnes," the press service quoted Ukrsugar analyst Nazar Mikhaylovyn as saying.

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In April, the geography of sugar deliveries hardly changed: 5,700 tonnes was supplied to Turkey, 800 tonnes to Libya, and 600 tonnes to Moldova and Romania each.

During eight months of the current marketing year (MY, September 2019 - August 2020) Ukrainian producers exported 76,400 tonnes of sugar, which was almost 75% down from the figure posted over the same period in MY 2018-22019.

"This is a fairly predictable figure, as most of 'our' markets are occupied by Russian sugar as overproduction and convenient logistics to Central Asian countries make it more profitable," the analyst said.

In total, the Association's experts have revised downward their forecast for sugar exports this year by more than 50%.

"Taking into account all these factors, sugar exports are expected at 120,000 tonnes in MY 2019-2020, although at the beginning of the year the export potential was estimated at more than 300,000 tonnes," the analyst summed up.

In MY 2018-2019, Ukrainian producers exported 409,800 tonnes of sugar worth US$144.3 million.