Russia has boosted white sugar production from its beet crop to a record 6 million tonnes since the 2016/17 marketing season started on August 1, its Sugar Producers' Union said on Tuesday. The country has been increasing production to reduce reliance on imports and has doubled sugar output over the past 10 seasons.
"This amount is enough to fully cover domestic needs as well as the needs of several Central Asian countries," the trade association said in a statement. Eight of Russia's 75 sugar refineries have yet to finish processing their beet, it said, adding that Russia's total 2016/17 output of white sugar is expected to reach 6.1 million tonnes when the refineries complete their work.
Russia's IKAR agriculture consultancy has also raised its forecast for Russia's 2016/17 sugar production to 6.1 million tonnes from a previous estimate of 5.8 million tonnes.