With world sugar prices barely half their peaks of two years ago, Ukraine’s sugar beet industry is contracting.

With world sugar prices barely half their peaks of two years ago, Ukraine’s sugar beet industry is contracting. In the marketing year that ended in August, sugar exports were down 27% yoy, to 560,400 tons. Last spring’s planting was 280,000 hectares, 13% below the 2017 area. With a global sugar glut expected this winter, only 40 of the nation’s 46 sugar mills are operating this fall, according to the Ukrtsukor, the National Association of Sugar Producers.