«According to our forecasts, due to the sugar refineries planned raw material zones for the current season, the total harvested area will amount to 205-210 thousand hectares. Of course, estimations may change after the end of the sowing campaign in Central and Northern regions, or in the case of plant deaths or seed non-sprouting. Any way, sugar industry is waiting for one of the most difficult seasons in the last 10 years», — said Vasyl Dolinsky, the analyst of the commodity markets and agriculture of «Ukrsugar» Association. 

As of April 22, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, sugar beet were sowed on the area of 202 thousand hectares. Despite the temporary drop in temperature, beet sowing campaign comes to an end, and many farms have already received the first seedlings. The relatively warm late March and the presence of moisture in the soil stimulated the farmers to sow as early as possible. As a result — the end of beet sowing campaign by the end of the second decade of April. For comparison, last year, farmers sowed only half of the planned areas under sugar beet. 

This year, as well as last year, more than half of the total sugar beet area have been sowed in four regions: Vinnytsia — 21,8%, Khmelnytsk — 13,9%, Poltava — 11,9% and Ternopil — (10,8%).  

«If we consider the structure of the harvested areas nationwide, even taking into account the areas where sowing is still ongoing, an increase in harvested areas can be observed only in Zhytomyr, Lviv and Volyn regions. In turn, the largest reductions were in Vinnytsia region — about 12 thousand hectares, Kharkiv and Poltava regions — minus 13-15 thousand hectares, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovograd regions lost 11-12 thousand hectares, Ternopil and Khmelnytsk regions — 10 thousand hectares», — explained Vasyl Dolinsky. 

Recall that in 2018/2019 MY, Ukrainian sugar production  decreased by 15% and amounted to 1,82 million tonnes. In the season, there were 42 sugar refineries in operation.