IKAR in Mass Media

Russia 2013/14 sugar imports to rise, beet acreage to fall -IKAR

14 марта 2013 года

MOSCOW, March 14 (Reuters) - Russia will import more sugar during the 2013/14 marketing year as low prices lead to a decrease in acreage sown to sugar beet, the head of Russia's Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said on Thursday.

"Acreage will decrease because of low prices," Dmitry Rylko, the head IKAR, told reporters on the sidelines of a sugar conference in Moscow.

Russia's domestic sugar prices fell to 21,200 roubles ($690) per tonne last week, down 16 percent year-on-year.

Domestic sugar demand is expected to reach 5.5 million tonnes during the marketing year to end-July 2013, of which 4.75 million tonnes of white sugar is being supplied from domestic beet sugar production, according to IKAR. The rest is to come from raw sugar and white sugar imports.

The country's output of white sugar from beets declined by 5.5 percent due to a small domestic crop in 2012, data from Russian Sugar Producers' Union industry lobby showed on Thursday.

Total acreage sown to sugar beet in 2013/14 will decline by 20 percent year-on-year, IKAR said in a recent note.

"Due to low sugar prices, many sugar beet producers are less interested in its production and may switch to other products, including grains," it added.

Last year Russia sowed 1.14 million hectares, down 11 percent year-on-year, and harvested 43.39 million tonnes of sugar beet, down 9 percent, with yields up 1.5 percent to 39.78 tonnes per hectare. The main producing areas were the Central, South and Volga/Urals regions.

Russia is importing raw sugar mainly from Brazil, Cuba, Thailand and India, with imports likely to become more active in March and April, IKAR added.

The institute provided no import forecast for the next marketing year. It expects 2012/13 raw sugar imports to rise to 481,000 tonnes from 419,000 tonnes a year ago and white sugar imports to reach 346,000 tonnes, up 22 percent.

Since the start of this season in August, traders including Sucden, Cargill and Vitol have already agreed to ship 314,950 tonnes of raw sugar to Russia, of which 114,800 tonnes are expected to arrive soon, IKAR added.

Russia has brought forward purchases of Brazilian raw sugar to take advantage of cheap offers before a possible increase in its import tariff on May 1 from a current level of $140 per tonne, sources at two trade houses said previously.

Russia's sugar carryover stocks are likely to decrease slightly by the end of July to 1.32 million tonnes from 1.38 million tonnes a year ago. They were at around 3 million tonnes as of March 1, 2013.

Source: Reuters | #sugar #CIS-Sugar-Conference | Comments: 0 Views: 93

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