OREANDA-NEWS. On 03 February 2009 was announced, that in the past weekend, on January, 25, Yareskivsky sugar mill finished production season, the last in Ukraine, processing 395 thousand tons of beet and making 56.6 thousand tons of sugar, that became the best result among the Group's mills. This processing season lasted 130 days.

As a result, the Group's sugar mills processed 1.7 million tons of sugar beet (up 40% y-o-y) and produced 235,586 tons of sugar (up 51% y-o-y). This result made ASTARTA the largest sugar producer in Ukraine with the production share of 15%.

Mills modernization and implementation of the energy saving program contributed to the 12.8% cut of natural gas consumption per ton of finished product. The average sugar yield per ton of beet grew from 12.85% in 2007 to 13.85% in 2008. Yareskivsky sugar mill demonstrated the best sugar yield among the Group's mills - 14.32%.

Comment by ASTARTA Holding N. V. CEO Viktor Ivanchyk: "The key element of our strategy in 2008 was investing into the production efficiency. We have managed to reach the goal set for the past year, to strengthen the sugar market leading position in Ukraine and to keep the positive trends in the production and sales."