According to the “Center of Agrobaltika” (subordinated to the Ministry of agriculture), the volume of supply of sugar for export during the last agricultural season as of 19 April was 901,2 thousand tons, which exceeds the level of last season seven times. This is a record for the indicators.
the Main regions exporting products are Krasnodar Krai, Moscow and significantly increased the volume of shipments of Lipetsk oblast. These three regions accounted for 61.2% of the total sugar exported, say the experts. Most in the past season of white sugar delivered to Kazakhstan (156,6 thousand tonnes 19 April), Uzbekistan (142,2 thousand tons), Tajikistan (114,3 thousand tons), Azerbaijan (108,0 thousand tons), Ukraine (64.6 thousand tonnes) and Belarus (47,9 thousand t). There were sent to 81.5% of the total exported products. The largest importers of Russian raw sugar this season are Uzbekistan (92,3 thousand t) and Kazakhstan (20,9 thousand tons), which accounted for 91.4% of exported products.
“since December, Russia has reached the level of exports of 150 thousand tons per month and it is a fantastic pace”, – said a leading expert of the Institute for agricultural market Eugene Ivanov. In his opinion, if these rates continue, then for a year and a half we will be able to get rid of the sugar surplus that has accumulated over the past five years. Together with the volume of Belarus they are 2,5 million Russians consume in a year about 6 million of sugar, and in the last season the country produced 7.9 million T.
Another thing – at what price we sell Russian sugar to the foreign market. According to IKAR, the international price of raw sugar are in a 12-year low. And it puts pressure on domestic prices. In rubles of the Russian wholesale sugar prices since March 20, also went down. According to the “Center of Agrobaltika”, on April 21, the average selling price of sugar was 25 057 RUB./t, which is 0.4% lower than a week ago. The price of sugar has remained relatively stable for the third consecutive week, the adjustments are minor (less than 1% in a week). Assessment Ivanov, the price adjustment in the near future is possible due to the seasonal increase in demand from producers of soft drinks, ice cream, and also due to the increase of supply in remote settlements where to send the products to the winter floods was difficult.
But the new season for the sugar industry will also be savory, said Yevgeny Ivanov. According to the Ministry of agriculture on 21 APR, forecast sowing of sugar beet decreased to 944,9 thousand hectares (that is minus 17.5% to a level of 2019). By 21 April sown 593,5 thousand hectares of sugar beet is 62,8% of the forecast. Almost dropped out of the South (97.3 percent) and North Caucasus (91,8%) Federal districts. However, according to Yevgeny Ivanov, while to judge such a significant reduction of sugar beet before. The main supplier of sugar beet regions Centraltion of the earth, where sowing is still going on. In addition, most of the farms contracted for several years to come under a certain amount of beets they deliver vertically integrated holdings. They account for about 2/3 of the total sugar production, and to reduce the release of sugar is not in their interests. The more download company, the lower the cost of production. Thus, in the new season we will not be able to avoid overproduction, experts predict.
to Increase the rate of export may be the last decision of the Russian government, which allowed the Russian producers joint export of white sugar or beet sugar. This allows you to export the surplus sugar from the domestic market with minimal logistics costs, said Vice-Premier of Victoria Abramchenko.
But before it will work, the government needs to publish more regulations, and the sugar producers to agree among themselves how and to what extent to “fold” in this joint exports, said Yevgeny Ivanov. “In Russia, under 30 owners of factories, and it is very difficult to negotiate. Besides ambition, it is necessary to consider different forces negotiating positions, as different factories, different quality of sugar, different supply logistics. The devil is in the details. And in these parts can all get bogged down, the negotiations can drag on and nothing to bring,” – says the expert.
