Sugar beet acreage in Ukraine this year may be the smallest since independence

Due to the weather, the sowing of sugar beet is slowing down, the situation is also complicated by frosts and storms. This year, Ukraine may set a record for the area sown with beet. This was reported by the head of the board of Ukrtsukor Yana Kavushevska in a comment to Latifundist.com.

“Unfortunately, the course of the sowing of sugar beet this year leaves no room for optimism,” she said.

According to Kavushevska, the third wave of frosts is now underway, and, accordingly, the beet that was sown the earliest is already suffering the longest and the most.

“It is too early to give any forecasts – the picture will be clearer after the end of the current frosts, but we already see more than 3,000 hectares of beet crops “blown out” as a result of the dust storm and which need to be replanted in the West and Southwest. It is estimated that more than 15% of crops are at risk due to frosts,” Kavushevska noted.

She adds that these are quite significant volumes, given the total area of ​​beet crops this year, which, according to Ukrsugar, is only 160 thousand hectares. The association believes that not all farms will be ready to sow beet a second time and switch to other crops, so the actual number of crops will be reduced even more.

“Thus, we will have an anti-record — the smallest area of ​​beet crops in Ukraine at least since the creation of Ukrsugar in 1997, and obviously earlier, since in the 80s-90s Ukraine sowed more than 1.5 million hectares,” Kavushevska concluded.

According to the Ministry of Economy, the area sown under sugar beet this year will be 197.2 thousand hectares.

Tags: Ukraine, sugar, sown area