IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russia 10/11 beet sugar output seen 2.7 mln T-lobby

Reuters

MOSCOW, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Russia may refine 2.7 million tonnes of white sugar from this year's domestic beet crop, as the harvesting campaign is nearing its end, the Russian Sugar Producers' Union main industry lobby said on Wednesday.

"Favourable weather conditions have had a positive impact on the sugar beet harvesting and practically all what has been produced this year with very complicated climate conditions will be processed, as well as the remainder of the (unharvested) beet at fields located close to refineries," it said in a statement.

It said the processing of this year's beet crop will continue until early January. Normally Russia finishes refining sugar beets in February.

The union said in September it expected Russia to refine 3.0-3.1 million tonnes of sugar from domestic beet, down from 3.2 million tonnes in 2009/10 due to a severe drought, which hit some beet-growing regions.

The lobby's forecast is higher than an estimate of 2.46-2.56 million tonnes, published on Monday by the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR).

In the last few years Russia, the world's third-largest sugar buyer, has produced over a half of the sweetener it consumed from domestic beets, refining the remainder from imported cane raws. Russia imports raw sugar mainly from Brazil, Thailand and Cuba.

30.11.10

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