Vinnytsia region has completed sugar-refining season with the lowest figures in four years.
In total, six refineries produced 331 thousand tons of sugar, down by 93 thousand tons YoY. Even with such a significant decline, the region remains the leader in sugar production in comparison with other beet-growing areas of the country.
This spring the total sugar beet area of the region was reduced to 44,2 thousand hectares – almost 10 thousand hectares less than in 2018. The second reason for the “bitter” figures is the lower beet yield: 419 hundredweights of roots per hectare were harvested on average instead of 569 hundredweights in the previous season. Such a low sugar beet yield has not been harvested for nearly ten years. The experts complain of unfavorable weather conditions. There was not enough moisture during spring sowing; it was also insufficient in some periods of beetroot formation. (Ukrsugar/Business World Magazine)