Union ups Russia’s Aug 1–Jul 31 sugar export plan to 500,000 tns

MOSCOW, Dec 28 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Union of Sugar Producers has increased its estimate of sugar exports from August 1, 2016 through July 31, 2017 to 500,000 tonnes from 350,000 tonnes, the union said in a statement on Wednesday.

“This year Russia is expected to produce a maximum of 6 million tonnes of sugar. Taking into account supplies of up to 250,000 tonnes of Belarusian sugar, the carry-over stock of sugar will stand at 4.6 million tonnes as of early 2017, which is enough to not only cover internal demand for sugar, but also to export more than 500,000 tonnes of it,” the statement read.

State support has allowed sugar plants to increase refining capacities by 11%, or by 32,000 tonnes, since 2011. Some sugar-producing regions even have excessive processing capacities, like the Krasnodar, Belgorod, Boronezh, and Tambov regions, the union said.

But further state support of the industry will not be used efficiently, and launches of new processing capacities at sugar plans will lead to losses in refining of beetroot, the union added.

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