Sugar production in 2025-2026 MY in Ukraine to exceed 1.7 mln tonnes – expert
Sugar production in Ukraine in the 2025-2026 marketing year has already reached 1.615 million tonnes, but the sugar refining season is not over, said Yana Kavushevska, head of the board of the National Association of Sugar Producers Ukrtsukor in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
"According to our expectations, sugar production in the 2025-2026 marketing year will exceed 1.7 million tonnes. As of 10 January, plants belonging to the association have produced 1.615 million tonnes," she said.
Kavushevska noted that in 2025, sugar beets were grown on 199,000 hectares in Ukraine. With a yield of 58 tonnes per hectare, 11.4 million tonnes were harvested. Of this, 10.8 million tonnes were delivered to 27 sugar plants within the Ukrtsukor association operating in the 2025/26 marketing year, though deliveries are still ongoing.
She said the association had expected a lower beet yield and lower total sugar production, but favorable weather conditions allowed farmers to achieve higher yields than last year. She recalled that in 2024, sugar beets were planted on 250,000 hectares, yielding 55 tonnes per hectare, and 29 sugar plants produced 1.812 million tonnes of sugar.
Ukrtsukor noted that domestic sugar consumption in Ukraine before the full-scale war – even after the loss of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions – stood at 1.2–1.3 million tonnes, and is now 300,000–400,000 tonnes lower. As a result, Ukraine aims to export at least 700,000 tonnes in the current marketing year.
Kavushevska said the geography of Ukrainian sugar exports in 2026 is unlikely to change. Shipments will likely go to countries with convenient logistics, where transportation costs allow Ukrainian sugar to remain competitive with other global producers.
"In 2025, Ukraine exported 464,000 tonnes of sugar, of which 27 percent went to the European Union, while the rest was supplied to the global market, including countries in the Middle East and the Balkans. The undisputed leader in purchasing Ukrainian sugar in 2025 was Lebanon, with 71,000 tonnes, while a year earlier it had been Turkey with a similar volume. In second place was an EU country, Bulgaria, with 66,000 tonnes, followed by North Macedonia with 39,000 tonnes, Libya with 34,000 tonnes, and Syria and Türkiye sharing fifth place with more than 27,000 tonnes each," the head of Ukrtsukor said.