Ukraine Sees 2008 Sugar Beet Crop 18 pct Down

Ukraine's sugar beet crop is likely to decline to a maximum of 14 million tonnes this year from 17 million in 2007, a top agriculture official was quoted.

According
to Interfax Ukraine news agency, a lower sugar beet area was the main
reason for the decrease.Farms reduced the sown area to less than
400,000 hectares from 650,000 in 2007. Another deputy minister,
Serhiy Melnyk, this week said white sugar output was likely to fall
to 1.5 million tonnes from 1.86 million in 2007. Ukraine consumes up
to 2 million tonnes of sugar per year.