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An official from Ukrtsukor sugar union was quoted as saying the area under sugar beet was likely to fall to 515,000 hectares this year from 544,000 hectares in 2011. The official said farms could harvest about 18 million tonnes of sugar beet in 2012 out of which 16.6 million tonnes would be processed. Ukraine, which consumes about 1.8 million tonnes of white sugar per season, produced 2.33 million tonnes of sugar in 2011. The country used to produce 5 million tonnes of sugar in Soviet times but has since cut production as sugar made from beet could not compete with much cheaper sugar produced from cane.