Ukraine raises sugar output to two million tonnes

Ukraine increased its sugar production from beet by around a third to 2 million tonnes in 2016, Ukrainian sugar producers' union Ukrtsukor said on Thursday. Some 42 sugar refineries processed 13.7 million tonnes of sugar beet, it said in a statement.
Ukraine, which produced around 5 million tonnes of white beet sugar during Soviet times, has cut production sharply due to a lack of export markets because beet sugar cannot compete with cheaper sugar produced from cane.
Ukraine consumes about 1.6 million tonnes of sugar annually and produced 1.43 million tonnes of it in 2015.