Russia will produce 11% more sugar in 2010
MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - Russia might increase sugar production as much as 11% to 5.6 million tonnes this year from the 5.05 million tonnes it produced in 2009, chair of the Russian sugar association Soyuzrossakhar Andrei Bodin said during a Thursday conference.
Sugar-beet sugar production will increase to 3.7 million tonnes from last year's 3.3 million tonnes, while 1.9 million tonnes will be produced from other raw material like cane (1.77 million tonnes in 2009), Bodin said.
Sugar production in the context of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan will increase 11% also to 6.9 million tonnes from 6.22 million tonnes in 2009. Soyuzrossakhar forecasts that sugar-beet sugar output will increase more rapidly - by 11.5% to 4.25 million tonnes - than that of sugar from other raw material - 10.6% to 2.66 million tonnes. Customs Union country sugar production will increase to 7.05 million tonnes by 2012, the association projects.
Soyuzrossakhar forecasts sugar consumption in Russia to increase 2% this year to 5.3 million tonnes, Customs Union consumption 4% to 6.16 million tonnes.
Increased sugar production in Russia will necessitate more warehouse capacity, Bodin said. Sugar-beet sugar producers have at present around 1.36 million tonnes worth of storage capacity, he reckons. By the end of this year, with sugar-beet sugar production rising to 3.7 million tonnes, storage capacity will increase to 1.5 million tonnes, which would meet about half the sector's need, he said.