Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the apex representative body of sugar industry, has scaled down the estimates for sugar production for the current 2013-14 season by close to five per cent to 23.8 million tonnes (MT), which is just about enough to meet the country’s consumption of the sweetener. In September, ISMA had projected the output at 25 MT for the 2013-14 season to September. Meanwhile, India’s sugar consumption, which is the highest in the world, is estimated to be at 23.5 MT in the year 2013-14.
In its latest projections, based on the January-end satellite imagery, ISMA blamed the decline in output to the loss of sugarcane crop in eastern Uttar Pradesh on account of rainfall in recent months and a delay in crushing by the UP millers due to tiff over cane prices. Hence, it lowered sugar output projection for Uttar Pradesh by 1.1 MT to 6.6 MT against the earlier estimate of 7.7 MT.
Besides, the estimates for sugar production in Tamil Nadu were also lowered by 100,000 tonnes on account of lower yield and recovery percentage of sugar in the state. Major sugar producing states Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are expected to produce 7.8 MT, 3.5 MT, 1.5 MT, 1.17 MT and 950,000 tonnes, respectively. While, the output in Maharashtra is expected to be flat at 7.8 MT, it is expected to be marginally higher at 3.5 MT in Karnataka.