CHISINAU (Moldova), January 19 (SeeNews) – Moldova's 2008 sugar output totalled 132,572 tonnes, allowing the mainly agricultural country to meet domestic needs and to export some 18,000 tones to the European Union, the agriculture ministry said on Monday.
"Sugar output in 2008 will fully meet the domestic needs of some 70,000-80,000 tonnes. At the same time, the country could fulfil its preferential quota of 18,000 tonnes for sugar exports to the European Union," the ministry said in a statement.
Currently Moldova benefits from the EU's Generalised System of Preferences that is scrapping customs duties for some Moldovan goods and reducing them for others.
Moldova harvested 965,218 tonnes of sugar beet from 22,036 hectares under beet in 2008, the statement said. Comparative figures for 2007 were not immediately available.