Astarta in the 2017-2018 marketing year (MY, September-August) reduced sugar production by 8%, to 463,000 tons compared to the previous MY, the company’s press service has reported.
According to its information, Astarta plants processed about 3.1 million tons of sugar beets. The reduction of sugar production is due to a lower than planned sugar beet crop in Poltava region.
At the same time, the share of first category sugar, corresponding to international export requirements, amounted to about 90% of the total production.
Beet losses, as well as energy consumption during processing significantly decreased during storage and transportation.
Unfavorable weather conditions in Poltava region in 2017 also affected the gross harvest of grains and oilseeds, the total yield of which was 786,000 tons, down by 14% YoY. The sugar beet harvest decreased by 12% last year and amounted to 2.3 million tons.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in Poltava, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, and Kharkiv regions. The holding includes eight sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of about 25,000 hectares and dairy farms. (Interfax-Ukraine/Business World Magazine)
