DUTCH SUGAR BEET PLANTING HALF FINISHED
  Roughly half of this year's expected
  130,000 hectare Dutch sugar beet crop is already in the ground,
  a spokesman for Suiker Unie, the largest sugar processor in the
  Netherlands, told Reuters.
      Conditions are generally good and the average sowing date
  for the crop is expected to be around April 11, against April
  23 last year, and a 10-year average of April 14, the spokesman
  added.
      "It is far too early yet to say what kind of output we can
  expect when it comes to harvest in September, but at least the
  crop is off to a very good start," he said.
      Last year, the Netherlands planted a record 137,600
  hectares of sugar beet and produced a record 1.2 mln tonnes of
  white sugar, substantially more than the country's combined "A"
  and "B" quota of 872,000 tonnes.
      This year, however, a self-imposed quota system has been
  introduced with the aim of cutting plantings to 130,000
  hectares and reducing white sugar output to around 915,000
  tonnes to minimise the amount of non-quota "C" sugar produced.
      Only farmers with a record of growing suger beet have been
  allotted quotas. This is expected to prevent the area being
  boosted by dairy or cereal farmers moving into sugar.
  

