Astarta harvests 20% more sugar beet in 2023

MOSCOW. April 19 (Interfax) - Astarta Holding, Ukraine's largest sugar producer, harvested 39,000 tonnes of sugar beet in 2023, 20% more than a year earlier, Ukrainian media reported citing the company's annual report.

The group tapped more than 100 independent sugar beet growers to supply its sugar refineries with feedstock, and they increased deliveries to 707,000 tonnes, or 26% of the total amount of beets processed, up from 18% a year earlier.

Thanks to the record beet yield, which rose to 58 tonnes per hectare from 56 tonnes/ha in 2022, Astarta said it increased sugar production by 34% to 377,000 tonnes in the 2023/2024 season. Astarta processed 2.7 million tonnes of sugar beet at its refineries, 37% more than a year earlier.

Sugar sales grew by 26% to 284,000 tonnes and the average selling price rose 3% to 665 euros per tonne. The company's share of the domestic sugar market remained unchanged at 21%.

Astarta exported 50,000 tonnes of sugar last year, accounting for 12% of Ukraine's total sugar exports. The key markets were Italy and Romania, which accounted for respectively 29% and 25% of the company's exports. The other markets in the top five were Hungary, Spain and Bulgaria.

The company increased production of treacle by 50% to 98,000 tonnes, production of pressed pulp rose to 1.7 million tonnes from 1.5 million tonnes in 2022 and production of beet pulp pellets totalled 28,000 tonnes.

Astarta is a vertically integrated agribusiness group that includes sugar refineries, crop farms, dairy farms, an oil extraction plant, elevators and a biogas complex.