Russia needs to expand supplies to its neighbours to get rid of an exportable surplus of 780,000 tonnes of white sugar this season, which runs to July 31, to ease pressure on the domestic market, the head of the Sugar Producers' Union said. The country has doubled sugar output over the past 10 seasons as it wanted to reduce its reliance on imports and even began exporting in the previous season, but mostly to nearby former Soviet republics.
Russia exported 430,000 tonnes of white sugar from August 1 to March 1, Andrey Bodin, the head of the non-government producers' lobby, told reporters on the sidelines of a sugar conference. Until the end of the season, there is an additional 350,000 tonnes to offer, but the demand situation is shaky.
"There is a potential (to boost exports this season) but we understand that everything will depend on a buyer," Bodin said. Azerbaijan is not importing white sugar from Russia, while Uzbekistan, which opened up its market to Russian white sugar last season, wants to switch to raw sugar purchases this year.
In light of these difficulties, Russia's white sugar exports may fall sharply in March, Bodin said. Moscow is looking at the possibility to develop sugar exports to Asia and would like to expand its supplies to Kazakhstan, an active sugar purchaser from the European Union, but this process will take time. Russia's rising beet sugar production in recent years has exceeded its ability to find export markets, which combined with relatively stable domestic demand, has led to surplus supplies within the country.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.