Ukraine hunts for sugar buyers as EU quota almost used up
By Pavel Polityuk
KYIV, May 2 (Reuters) -Ukraine is likely to have used up its proposed 2024 sugar export quota from the European Union by next month and could have to cut the area sown with sugar beet by up to 20% unless it finds other markets, a top official said on Thursday.
The European Commission earlier this year proposed measures to limit agricultural supplies from Ukraine in a bid to quell protests by farmers over a surge in cheap imports since Russia's full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
The Commission proposal, which will require approval from EU governments and the European Parliament, introduces a so-called emergency brake for the most sensitive products - poultry, eggs and sugar - allowing tariffs if imports exceed the average levels of recent years.
Taras Vysotskiy, Ukraine's first deputy agriculture minister, told Reuters that his country, which plans to refine 1.8 million metric tons of sugar in 2024, will only be able to export 262,000 tons of sugar to the EU for the whole year.
"Most likely it looks like that by June 5, before the entry into force of this potential quota decision, this quota is likely to be used and there will be no export (to the EU) until January 1, 2025," Vysotskiy said.
He added that Ukraine had already exported 220,000 tons of sugar to the EU this year.
The deputy minister said major Ukrainian sugar makers were trying to find new markets for their output, with the Middle East and West Africa potentially attractive destinations.
Vysotskiy said 30% of sugar export volumes in April were to non-EU countries like Cameroon, Turkey, Israel and Guinea.
"Asian counties are also being considered. But an important factor here is the Suez Canal," Vysotskiy said.
Attacks by Iran-allied Houthi militia in Yemen on vessels in the Red Sea since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.
Vysotskiy said Ukrainian farmers had kept the 2024 sugar sowing area at last year's high level of around 240,000 hectares, but the acreage could drop by 20% in 2025 if producers don't find enough demand for their output.
Reporting by Pavel Polityuk
Editing by Mark Potter
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