The average domestic sugar consumption is 2.2 million tons while last year (ended March 20) 1.3 million tons of sugar was extracted from sugarbeet and sugarcane crops, said Peiman Hesadi, Head of Industrial Agricultural Products Group at the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad. This year, sugar production is expected to increase to 1.4 million tons, Alef News Agency quoted him as saying. The policy is to cultivate sugarbeet in autumn instead of spring, which will help cut water consumption by up to 50%, Hesadi said. Sugarbeet is grown in the northeast, northwest and central regions whereas sugarcane is mainly grown in southwest Iran.
