IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russia to increase sugar beet production 9% in 2006

Interfax

MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - Russia could increase sugar beet production 9% to 23 million tonnes in 2006 from 21.1 million tonnes in 2005, Agrarian Market Affairs Institute (IKAR) analysts said.

IKAR general director Dmitry Rylko told Interfax that serious changes have taken place in the sugar beet industry over the last few years, which have led to a reduction in the country's dependence on imports of raw sugar. "We're mainly talking about an increase in the area under sugar beet crops and stable growth in their yield," he said.

The area under sugar beet crops may total 870,000-890,000 hectares in 2006 against 813,000 hectares in 2005, IKAR forecasts. The yield of sugar beets has increased for seven years in a row and totaled 2.6 tonnes per hectare in 2005. The quality of sugar beets also improved last year as the sugar content amounted to 17% compared to 15% in 2004.

02.03.06

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