Drilling of this year's British sugarbeet crop got off to a slow start due to poor weather
conditions with only around one pct sown so far, a spokesman
for British Sugar Plc said.
    This compares with two pct at the same stage last year,
three pct in 1985 and 38 to 39 pct in 1984.
    There is little cause for concern with better weather
forecast and the capacity available to drill the contracted
area of around 200,000 hectares in about 10 days. Seed beds
look good and farmers are advised to wait for soil temperatures
to rise, the spokesman said.
    "If the crop can be drilled by the third week in April we
will be delighted," he said. Last year a large proportion of the
crop was not drilled until May but it still turned out to be
the equal second largest on record.
 Reuter
