This year's record harvest of sugar beet will lead to a record production of sugar and producers plan to export about 100,000 tonnes of sugar to the EU. Until now, Moldova exported 60,000 tonnes per year, IPN reports.

Sugar producers met with Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov and assured him that all the beet harvested this year will be processed. Tudor Chilari, a white beet farmer from Drochia, said that processing will take longer this year because of the record high harvest per hectare. “Whereas in previous years by December 15 all the sugar beet was already delivered to processing plants, this year there is still some stored on the fields and processing will continue throughout January”, said the farmer.

Octavia Armas, a sugar producer, said that all the beet left on the fields will be processed. “We'll put additional money into it and assume the risk. This year the exports to the EU will grow to 100,000 tonnes, compared to 60,000 in previous years”, said Armas.

This season's record harvest of sugar beet reached over 1,2 million tonnes, about 200,000 more than last year, despite smaller plantations this year. The estimated quantity of sugar to be produced is 190,000 tonnes.