Ukraine's sugar needs fully covered - Agrarian Policy Ministry

MOSCOW. July 26 (Interfax) - A total of 1.8 million tonnes of sugar is available in Ukraine this marketing year (September-August), which is sufficient to cover the Ukrainian domestic market's needs of around 1.210 million tonnes (or 28.9 kg of sugar per resident of Ukraine per year).

There were 332,000 tonnes of last year's sugar stockpiles in Ukraine at the start of the 2021/2022 marketing year, a sufficient amount to provide the domestic market with sugar for three months, the Ukrainian media said, citing the website of Ukraine's Agrarian Policy Ministry.

Sugar beet was sown on 180,400 hectares in 2022, the ministry said, forecasting its gross yield at 7.830 million tonnes. Thus, given the projected yield at 430-440 hundredweights per hectare, sugar production in the 2022/2023 marketing year could stand at approximately 1.08 million tonnes, or a quarter less than in the 2021/2022 marketing year.

Whereas 33 factories manufactured sugar during the 2021/2022 marketing year, 23 such factories are expected to do so at the start of the 2022/2023 marketing year.

The Ukrainian government's Executive Order No. 549, dated May 3, 2022, canceled the zero quota on sugar and introduced sugar export licenses, the ministry said.

The Ukrainian Economy Ministry, in turn, simplified and expedited the process of licensing exports, including sugar, in March 2022, by reducing the number of documents needed for exports, permitting the online submission of relevant documents and abolishing export (import) license fees until Ukraine's martial law is suspended or lifted.