European Union sugar stocks are forecast to fall by more than 50 percent by the end of the current 2016/17 season as production rises but remains below the five-year average, the European Commission said on Wednesday. White sugar production was estimated at 16.7 million tonnes, up 12 percent from the sub-par crop in 2015/16 but ending stocks were put at 0.9 million tonnes, down from 1.9 million a year earlier and 3.9 million at the end of the 2014/15 season.
"Despite this production increase, the balance for 2016/17 remains tight," the Commission said in a crop report. The Commission said it would issue its first forecast for 2017/18, the first crop after the abolition of production quotas, in its summer edition while noting sowings in France were seen rising by 20 percent. "There are already clear indications of a substantial increase in production (post-quota) in the main producing states," the Commission said.
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