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.