«Given the reduction of sown areas and weather conditions that can significantly affect yields, as it is already known that dust storms have damaged some crops in Ternopil, Kharkiv and Kirovohrad regions, and the central regions suffer from pests, in 2020/2021 MY, sugar production is expected at the level of 1,2-1,3 million tonnes. This is more than 15% less than the previous year, but this may fully cover the needs of domestic market», — explains Nazar Mikhaylovyn, the «Ukrsugar» analyst. 

Zhytomyr region farmers noted the impact of abnormal weather conditions on the crops condition. Viktor Nikolyuk, the head of the raw materials subdivision of Novomyrhorod Sugar Refinery, says that due to the dust storms, the enterprise was forced to re-sow almost half of the sown area.

«This year, we sowed 5,400 hectares of sugar beets. The sowing campaign began on March, 29 and was successfully completed in 7 days. Beets grew well, crops were in excellent conditions, but in early May, dust storms destroyed 3,300 hectares. The whole area was re-sowed with sugar beets, but two weeks ago dust storms destroyed another 700 hectares of crops. As the refinery will be operating this season, we will not reduce the amount of raw materials, but taking into account all the factors that seriously affect yields: lack of moisture, dry winter and spring, dust storms and a large number of pests, we hope to reach the average yield of 40-45 t/ha», — said Anton Nikolyuk.

Western Ukraine, which is among the leaders in beet and sugar production, has also been affected by dust storms and April frosts:

«This year, we sowed 33,2 thousand hectares of sugar beets. The sowing campaign began on March, 20 and ended on April, 9, but due to the low temperatures, no even seedlings were obtained. Then the frosts damaged 50 hectares of crops. Then there was the first dust storm in Lviv region, as a result of which 450 hectares had to be resowed, and on May, 12 there was the second wave of dust storm in Ternopil, Chernivtsy, Ivano-Frankivsk and partly in Khmelnytsk regions. It damaged about 1,300 hectares of crops, 300 of which we resowed with other crops. At the moment, another 600 hectares remain in question, most likely we will resow them with sugar beets as well. Despite the difficult weather conditions, we will try to achieve a yield of more than 50 t/ha», — explains Roman Borysyuk, the raw materials director of «Radekhiv Sugar» LLC.