Ukraine, which plans to increase this year's white beet sugar output by around a third, has produced 1.0 million tonnes so far of a planned 2 million tonnes, Ukrainian sugar producers' union, Ukrtsukor, said on Tuesday. Sugar refineries have processed a total of 7.1 million tonnes of sugar beet, the union said in a statement. Refineries produced 774,500 tonnes of sugar from beet in the same period last year.
Ukraine, which used to produce around 5 million tonnes of white beet sugar during the time of Soviet Union, has cut production sharply due to a lack of export markets because beet sugar cannot compete with cheaper sugar produced from cane.