The sugar stocks in the country currently stand at 6.92 million tonnes (MT) at the beginning of the new marketing year that started this month. This is a decline of 25% compared to 9.3 MT which stood as on October 1, 2013. This fall is mainly due to lower output and higher exports last year. The marketing year runs from October- September.
However, the government estimates of 6.92 MT is nearly 2 MT higher than what is required for meeting the domestic demand till production from new crushing season comes into the market. The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) on the other hand has projected 7.4 MT of opening stock at the start of this month.
The sugar output fell to 24.3 MT in 2013-14 marketing year from 25.1 MT in the previous year. Moreover, sugar exports jumped to 2.1 MT last marketing year from just 0.34 MT in 2012-13 on the back of incentives provides by the Centre on shipments of raw sugar. Domestic consumption, too, went up at 24 MT in 2013-14 from 23 MT in the previous year.