Ukraine's National sugar producers' association Ukrtsukor said on Monday the country hoped to produce 1.461 million tonnes of white sugar from sugar beets in 2004 compared with 1.453 million tonnes in 2003.
Late last year the country forecast the 2004 white beat sugar output at about 1.85 million tonnes.
Ukrtsukor said the fall in the forecast had been caused by a poor white beet sugar output in 2003. In 2003, the government hoped the output would be about 1.8 million tonnes.
"It (the fall in forecast) is the result of our production level in 2003," Ukrtsukor said in a statement.
"We can't produce 1.8 million tonnes of white sugar from beet in 2004," UNIAN news agency quoted an Ukrtsukor official as saying.
Ukraine needs between 1.9 and 2.0 million tonnes of sugar to meet local needs and has become a raw cane sugar importer from Latin American countries after poor beet crops struck it in 1999-2002.
Ukraine's budget for 2004 provides for imports of 125,000 tonnes of raw cane sugar under the import duty of 30 euros per tonne in the period until September 15, 2004.
Under the Ukrainian law, refineries that import raw sugar for domestic needs must normally pay 50 percent of the customs value or not less than 300 euros per tonne.
Those who re-export it can import the raw sugar duty-free. In 2003, the parliament set two different raw cane sugar import quotas of 360,000 tonnes under duty of 59 euros per tonne and 200,000 tonnes with a duty of 60 euros per tonne.
In July and August 2003, Ukraine sold 380,000 tonnes of raw sugar import quotas.
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