The production of sugar from the beet of the new crop began this year on July 27 — earlier than last season.
Currently, 100 thousand tons of sugar have already been produced, according to the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies. Basically, production takes place on the territory of the Krasnodar Territory.
At the same time, local factories have accumulated a large amount of stocks of raw materials: about 933 thousand tons, which is twice as much as last season.
Now in the south of Russia 10 out of 13 sugar factories have already been launched, the rest should also start producing sugar in the near future.
In total, taking into account other regions, up to 33 plants will process beets in August. The remaining 32 factories are to join later.
It is planned that in total Russia will produce up to 6.5 million tons of sugar in the new season.
It will also be more than a year earlier: then the country produced a total of 6.2 million tons of sugar, and its own consumption amounted to about 5.8 million tons, the rest was exported.
At the end of the season, sugar reserves amounted to 1.2 million tons. This exceeds the value for the same date last year: 917 thousand tons.
It is planned that the total volume of sugar beet harvest in the country this year can reach up to 45 million tons.
So far, the weather has been generally favorable for the cultivation of this crop, and if there are no unforeseen problems with harvesting, this figure may well be achieved.
“But there are two or three months of active vegetation of this agricultural crop ahead in most of the regions sowing it, and the result will depend on what the weather will be like during this period. Thus, drought can negatively affect the plant,” says IKAR representative Evgeny Ivanov.
How is the sugar beet harvest going?
In fact, it has just started: so far, a little more than 1% of all sown areas have been harvested, which is 14 thousand hectares.
Beet harvested twice as much as on the same date last year: 700,000 tons against 350,000.
The yield of sugar beet this year is 506 centners per hectare, which is 5% more than a year ago.
What kind of sugar prices should we expect?
According to experts, they should be stable in the new season, it is hardly necessary to expect any sharp fluctuations.
Since the end of last November, prices have been rising, and there are prerequisites for the growth to continue until the end of summer.
Then, as is usually the case with the start of a new season, prices may begin to move down, and this may continue until December, after which prices can again be expected to rise.
However, the state can intervene in this process: if there are any new regulatory measures, everything may not go quite according to plan.
