Russia's sugar beet harvest may reach a record 48 million tons this year, if high yields are maintained in October and November and all the crop is gathered, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies said.
With 43 percent of the planted area harvested, the crop reached 20.9 million tons on Oct. 12, the institute, known as Ikar, said on its web site, citing Agriculture Ministry data. The average yield was 37.3 tons a hectare, up from 22.3 tons in 2010, Ikar said.
Farms need to accelerate harvesting this month because weather conditions in the next two months will make it harder to collect beets in all regions except for southern territories, senior sugar analyst Yevgeny Ivanov said in the posting.
(Bloomberg)
