Kyrgyzstan expects to reduce sugar imports

The Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan reported on the harvest of sugar beet, the press service of the department reported.

The areas sown with sugar beets amounted to 10,600 hectares. In 2016, 638,100 tons of beet were harvested, 57,300 tons of sugar were produced. This year, the harvest reached 671,500 tons of beets, and sugar produced - 78,500 tons.

More than half of the sugar is imported into the country. However, warehouses of domestic sugar factories have raw material for production of 75 percent of the republic’s total demand for sugar (an average of 132,600 tons). As a result of the use of high-quality seeds, the introduction of drip irrigation and the launch in October of «Koshoi» JSC, sugar, necessary for the population, will be supplied by local producers. Import of sugar from other countries will decrease, according to the Ministry of Economy.