According to the statistics available, sugar prices in Ukraine grew by 14.6% since the beginning of the 2013 financial year, by 6.8% for the past week (June 3 – June 8). Current price is evaluated at 5.5 thousand UAH (as of June 7), which is record high for the past 8 months. Prices grew on Monday-Tuesday this week to 5.6 – 5.7 thousand UAH. Sugar prices were expected to be stable this year. Market analysts and market participants are explaining current trend with the seasonality factor. Another factor is that planted areas for sugar were all-time law since Ukraine obtained its independence, therefore lower supply to the market might cause speculative price increase.

AgroInvest comment: Increasing sugar prices will mostly benefit such sugar producers as Astarta that refused to adjust their production plans in accordance with current trends, actually increasing sugar production volume in 2012.

UkrAgroConsult