Astarta to up sugar beet harvest 17% in 2009

Astarta (AST PW) plans to increase its sugar beet harvest by 16.7% yoy this year to 1,750 ths mt, Ukrainian News reported this morning. The company also said it expects to see a reduction in its grain and oil crop harvest by 8.6% yoy to 360 ths mt. Andriy Gostik: This year, Astarta increased its area sown with sugar beets by 17% yoy, to 35 ths ha and upped areas sown with grain and oil crops by 4-25%, depending on crop. Thus, the expected increase in the sugar beet harvest in 2009 corresponds to the increase in areas sown with beets. On the other hand, grain and oil crops harvest projections are lower than last year’s results due primarily to lower yields for the crops this year.