News From Agro-Industrial Complex

Ukraine’s beet sugar production season ended on February 1, 2026. A total of 26 sugar plants belonging to the Ukrsugar association produced 1.64 mln tons of sugar.

Including one additional plant that is not a member of the association, total sugar output in the country reached 1.72 mln tons.

Despite a reduction in sugar beet planting areas by 50,000 ha (–23% year-on-year), sugar production declined by only 4%, or 80,000 tons.

Scientists have found that the wheat yield plateau in northwestern Europe is driven primarily by agronomic management rather than climatic conditions. The findings come from a study by Wageningen University and Research, published in the scientific journal Nature Food.

The introduction of export duties on soybeans and rapeseed has had a tangible effect: the utilization of processing capacities has increased to the maximum level in recent years. This is reported by the Ministry of Economy and Agriculture of Ukraine.

“In terms of stimulating processing, the effect is there – and it is measurable. Capacity utilization has increased, oilseed processing is currently at the maximum level in recent years. This indicates that the market has reacted exactly as was laid down in the logic of the norm,” said Oleksiy Sobolev, Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine.

According to him, the Ministry of Economy is building a policy where crops grown in Ukraine are more profitable to process domestically than to export raw materials and only then export processed products. This approach is aimed at moving away from the model of a raw material economy.

Sugarcane production and cane sugar content are affected not only by weather, but also by the increasingly influential cane sugar processing into ethanol. That makes sugar more volatile and more sensitive to every new forecast on cane yields, crushing pace, and the ethanol usage.

In the last few seasons, sugar prices flowed a downtrend with short, sharp rallies. Traders consider any forecast of production decline as a signal for price upward move, but the market is now getting a different story for the transition from 2024/25 to 2025/26 season with higher global output and a more comfortable balance.

The main drivers of the sugar market in 2025 were the forecasts of the deficit of sugar on the world market from ISO for one season 2024/25. Over the four updates of the forecast, significant changes have occurred – an increase in the production/consumption gap and a sharp reduction in the deficit indicator.