IKAR in Mass Media

Russia AgMin sees 2011-12 beet sugar output 5 mln T

28 сентября 2011 года

Sept 23 (Reuters) - The Russian Agriculture Ministry said on Friday the country may refine around 5 million tonnes of sugar from domestic beets in current crop year, but a leading industry analyst believes that Russia has a capacity to refine 4.3 million tonnes.

"In the current year, a record sugar beet crop of 36-40 million tonnes is expected," the ministry said in a statement.

"According to a forecast of the Russian Sugar Producers' Union, output of sugar from domestic beets may be around 5 million tonnes."

The Russian Sugar Producers' Union, the industry lobby, could not be reached for comment.

Earlier this month, Yevgeny Ivanov, an analyst with the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies, told Reuters that the limit of the country's sugar refining capacity was 4.3 million tonnes.

"And, unfortunately, we have thaws. A thaw from, say, minus 10 degrees (Centigrade, 14 degrees Fahrenheit) to plus 5 degrees in December or January will transform all non-processed beet into mash," Ivanov said.

An output of 4.3 million tonnes will still be a record volume for Russia, but will remain far from what could be expected from this year's big sugar beet crop.

Analysts have said that Russia's big sugar crop may force top raw sugar supplier Brazil to turn to the fast growing Chinese market.

In the last few years Russia refined more than half of sugar it consumes from domestic beets, producing most of the remainder from imported raws.

The previous record in Russia was set in 2008/09 crop year, when the country produced 3.5 million tonnes of white sugar from domestic beets. Last year, when Russia was hit by a severe drought, it refined 2.74 million tonnes.

Source: Reuters | #sugar | Comments: 0 Views: 66

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