Serbia, Record sugar export prices

Published on 9. January 2023., News

The highest was recorded in September 2022, when it reached 938 euros

Last year’s sugar beet harvest in Serbia is expected to produce around 260,000 tons of sugar. Transitional stocks will continue to be at a high level and for the time being will provide a surplus of this product for export by domestic sugar mills.

Although, according to the first estimates, beet yields were about a third lower than the ten-year average, and inputs increased and burdened the producers’ business, the last season will also be remembered for the extremely high export prices of sugar.

According to the analysis of “Agropress”, in the previous 2021-2022. export prices of white sugar were on the rise. The lowest was in October 2021 – 490 euros per ton. The highest was recorded in September 2022, when it reached 938 euros. As stated, the prices at which exports were contracted differed from country to country. Those agreed for the placement in the region were lower, while according to the countries of the European Union, under the influence of local demand, they were at a higher level and affected the average prices achieved. As emphasized, according to statistical data, retail prices on the domestic market were limited and at a relatively stable level, ranging between 669 and 805 euros per ton.

As a reminder, due to the increase in the prices of inputs for the production and processing of sugar beet, and the aim to improve the competitiveness of the sector, the Government of Serbia, in the second half of the year, adopted the Regulation on financial support to agricultural producers of sugar beet in 2023. They will be able to receive 35,000 dinars per hectare of registered and sown sugar beet, and up to 500 hectares for a yield of at least 50 tons per hectare of payable sugar beet. Also, a regulation was adopted according to which the maximum retail price of white sugar is limited to RSD 114.99 per kilogram. and the goal is to ensure the supply of consumers on the one hand, that is, to moderate the rise in input prices on the other.

What will happen next on the EU market is still uncertain. In the coming months, the EU is expected to finalize a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with one of the world’s largest net sugar exporters, Australia. For both parties, sugar is characterized as a sensitive product and has not yet been discussed.

Australia is known to be persistently pushing for greater access to the European sugar market, despite its distance from Europe and proximity to key sugar deficit markets in East Asia. The portal states that the EU sugar industry’s position is clear – Australian sugar should not be granted additional access to the EU market in the ongoing negotiations. Of course, this will not reduce the problems facing the European market, due to the shutdown of a large number of sugar mills, forecasts are that this product will be in deficit and that imports will be necessary, Politika reports.

Download Article as PDF