On September 23, Nesvizh district / Tatyana Polezhay - BELTA /. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has set the task to expand the capacities of sugar factories. He gave such an instruction today, while visiting OJSC "Gorodeysky Sugar Refinery", a BELTA correspondent reports. "We have a well-established system and structure for sugar production, and there is room for expansion. Therefore, the first thing that needs to be done is to increase production volumes at existing enterprises," said the head of state. Currently, four sugar factories operate in the country: in Skidel, Zhabinka, Slutsk, and Gorodeya. The republic's sugar industry has been technically re-equipped and ensures stable production. 26.8 thousand tons of beets are processed per day. Since 2004, Belarus has achieved self-sufficiency in sugar using its own raw resources. Among the CIS countries, it ranks third in sugar production from sugar beets, after Russia and Ukraine. The range of sugar products has significantly expanded. In 2009, exports amounted to almost 440 thousand tons of sugar. By 2015, it is planned to increase the output of sugar from beet raw materials to 650 thousand tons per year. To improve the economic efficiency of the industry, it is necessary to solve a number of issues, in particular, to increase the technological quality of sugar beets, their sugar content to 18% and more, reduce the storage and processing time of sugar beets, and ensure a balance between the levels of procurement of beet raw materials and the production capacities for its processing. Alexander Lukashenko familiarized himself with the state and prospects for the development of the sugar industry in the republic as a whole, as well as the production and economic state of the Gorodeysky Sugar Refinery and its development prospects, visited the production workshops and observed the entire production cycle of this product. The main product manufactured by the Gorodeysky Refinery is granulated sugar. It is an environmentally friendly product, its production is carried out without any chemical additives or impurities. In 2009, the refinery launched a line for the production of pressed sugar, and the production of sticks was established. In February 2010, a second line for pressed sugar with a production capacity of up to 14 tons per day was installed, which allows for the production of sugar with various flavor additives.