The harvesting of sugar beet in Ukraine is over, but part of the harvest is still stored on the fields, while 13.5 million tonnes of sugar beets have been dug, which is one million tonnes less than last year, the Ukrtsukor National Association of Sugar Producers has said.

"Some 13.5 million tonnes of sugar beets have been dug in the current season, which is almost one million tonnes less than last year. Despite bad weather conditions, diseases and pests, manufacturers got a high average yield of 49.4 tonnes per ha. Soil and climatic conditions and a large amount of moisture in the soil caused such an unexpected result," Vasyl Dolynsky, an analyst of the commodity markets and agriculture of the association, said.

According to him, Lviv, Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions with the average yield of 55-60 tonnes/ha became the most productive this year. The worst indicators were in Kharkiv region at 37 tonnes/ha and Kirovohrad region at 34.8 tonnes/ha. Many farms, mainly in the western and central regions of Ukraine, harvested more than 80 tonnes per ha on some fields.

The expert noted that problems with storage and weather and climatic conditions in the second half of summer caused abnormally low sugar content of root crops: the average sugar content of root crops is 16.3%, which is 7% lower than in the last three years.