Astarta increases sugar refinery capacities by 9%

Astarta (WSE: AST PW), the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, reached an agreement  to take control of the Savinskiy sugar plant, with 2.7 mt per day refinery capacity, located in Kharkiv region, the company reported in a press release on Friday. The company plans to modernize the plant to increase to 4 mt per day capacity. Neither the volume of the deal nor CapEx required for modernization were disclosed. Yegor Samusenko: This deal will increase Astarta’s sugar refinery capacity by 9% to 33.1 mt per day and to 34.4 mt per day after modernization. The impact of the addition is not clear yet, as it depends on the economics of the acquired plant and Astarta`s ability to load its capacities. Basing on its March update on its sowing campaign preparation and our sugar yields forecasts, the company will operate at 55% average capacity utilization in 2011.