Ukraine can export a third of its sugar production from the 2023 season - Astarta CEO

MOSCOW. Aug 23 (Interfax) - Ukraine this season will be able to export more than a third of the sugar it produces, Ukrainian media said, citing Viktor Ivanchik, founder and CEO of the Astarta agricultural holding, the country's largest sugar producer.

"The opening of the sugar market by the European Union [in 2022] has significantly helped Ukraine. We can export a third or even more of this year's harvest," he said in an interview broadcast on YouTube.

"We need about one million tonnes in Ukraine. The forecast for production this year is 1.6-1.7 million tonnes. This potential must be unequivocally used. We need to gain a foothold in the markets. For both the near and the distant future, this is a serious entry factor for Ukraine into the European Union with their goods, services and labor force," Ivanchik explained.

Commenting on the investigation of the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine regarding a possible cartel agreement among sugar producers, Ivanchik said, "Today we don't see a problem. It did not exist before. We have convincingly proved to the AMCU, with which we have been in communication for the last five years, that there are no violations of the antimonopoly law. It makes no sense for us to negotiate prices and volumes. We compete fiercely in the Ukrainian market, as it is in surplus.

The CEO of Astarta also noted that there is an initiative to create a public association based on the Federation of Employers of Ukraine to protect businesses from unreasonable encroachments by law enforcement and regulatory authorities. He stressed that businesses have the right to publicly and legally protect their interests.

Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding. It includes sugar factories, agricultural enterprises, dairy farms, an oil extraction plant, elevators and a biogas complex.