Guatemala's sugar exports are expected to rise 13.3 percent in the 2004-05 cane harvest, in response to predicted record production, growers' group Asazgua said on Wednesday. Exports are seen at 1.7 million tonnes, up from 1.5 million tonnes in 2003-04, while output should reach 2.3 million tonnes, up 4.5 percent from 2.2 million tonnes, Azasgua officials told Reuters.

Guatemala will export less to Asia this year due to increased shipping charges but hopes to increase market share in Russia via a bilateral trade agreement, the group said.

"At one time Korea bought 50 percent of our exports; this year it looks like they will buy very little or nothing," Azasgua vice-president Fraterno Vila said.

"(However), Russia has a law to exempt an import tax to certain countries ... We are negotiating to see if Guatemala achieves this advantage," he said.

Guatemala is the world's sixth-largest sugar exporter.

Vila said that droughts caused by the El Nino phenomenon would likely reduce production in the 2005-6 harvest.

Copyright Reuters, 2005