Tonnes of sugar beet are decaying at the Glodeni sugar factory. The company experiences financial difficulties and cannot process the sugar beet, IPN reports.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov said the court at the start of this year obliged the factory to give several tonnes of sugar and lees to the Balti gas supplier owing to a debt of about US$40 million.

Vasile Bumacov said he informed about the problem last autumn. But when he proposed that the company should be helped to overcome the financial difficulties, he was accused of lobbying for the factory.

Contacted by IPN, the head of Glodeni district Valeriu Tarigradschi said the company was unable to work in winter, when there was hard frost. Experts say the sugar beet was lost irrecoverably, while others say the raw material can be saved.

Neither the owner, nor the executive director of the Glodeni factory answered the phones to provide details about the situation.

Head of the National Union of Associations of Agricultural Producers (UniAgroProtect) Alexandru Slusari said the factory in Donduseni also faced problems, but managed to overcome them.

As to the general situation on the sugar market, Alexandru Slusari said it is a very good year with a record production of sugar. The sugar beet producers sold their harvest at very good prices.