Ukrainian farmers reduced the area under sugar beet by 15%

In 2025, the area sown with sugar beets in Ukraine decreased by 15.4% compared to the previous year, from 259 thousand hectares to 220 thousand hectares, - said First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotsky at a meeting of the Trend\&Hedge Club.

He noted that Ukrainian processors were very disappointed with the quotas for sugar supplies to the EU set in the spring of 2025 within the limits of 67 thousand tons for 2025. Currently, this volume has been increased to 107 thousand tons. However, in better times, the volume of supplies to the EU reached 473 thousand tons, so when comparing the allocated quota with the peak volume of supplies, the difference is obvious.

"In Ukraine, the renaissance of the sugar industry took place due to duty-free trade with the EU. Then, due to scale and turnover, our producers began to enter other export markets, but the start was access to the European most marginal market. It has no alternatives in terms of margin," the deputy minister noted.

He did not rule out that in the coming years the area sown with sugar beets will continue to decrease, but producers will make appropriate decisions regarding this taking into account export prospects, in particular to the EU.