MOSCOW: Russia’s 2022 production of sugar beet is expected to rise by 5% from a year earlier, the Russian Sugar Producers’ Union industry lobby said on Monday, adding that sugar refineries had started processing this year’s crop.

Russia has doubled sugar output over the past 15 years to end a reliance on imports and is currently self-sufficient. However, the supply of the commodity has been in the spotlight for domestic consumers since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24, prompting a sharp jump in sugar and other food prices. Four processing plants in the southern Krasnodar region have started processing the new sugar beet crop, the union said, adding that an additional 10 refineries in Russia’s south would join them within two weeks.

Higher sugar beet production will bring enough beet sugar to cover the needs of the Russian domestic market and neighbouring countries, which share the Eurasian Economic Union with Moscow, the union added. Russia produced 41.2 million tonnes of sugar beet in 2021. The union previously expected Russia’s 2022/23 August-July beet sugar production at 6 million tonnes vs 5.9 million tonnes in the previous season.