Russia's 2019 sugar beet crop is expected to remain flat at around 41 million tonnes, allowing production of around 6 million tonnes of sugar, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday. Russia has doubled its sugar output over the past ten years as it wanted to reduce its reliance on imports and even began exporting, but mostly to nearby former Soviet republics.

The 2019 production of sugar from its own beet along with the country's stockpiles will be enough to cover domestic consumption and develop exports, the ministry added. It estimated Russia's sugar stockpiles at 5.1 million tonnes as of Jan. 1.

Russia will also continue importing sugar from Belarus, and these supplies will help develop exports of Russian sugar and secure domestic consumption, Andrey Bodin, the head of the Sugar Producers' Union, a non-government producers' lobby, was quoted as saying in the ministry's statement.

Copyright Reuters, 2019