COMMODITY
India’s production of sugar jumps 8.07% to 21.93 MT till February 15
Feb-20-2019

Industry body the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has stated that India’s production of sugar jumped 8.07% to 21.93 million tonnes (MT) till February 15 in the ongoing marketing year (October-September) 2018-19 from 20.35 MT in the year-ago period. However, the overall sugar output is pegged lower at 30.7 MT for the current marketing year compared to 32.5 MT during 2017-18.

Higher production this year is mainly because Maharashtra and Karnataka sugar mills started their crushing earlier this year. Sugar production in Maharashtra, the country's leading producing state, rose to 8.29 MT from 7.47 MT, while the output in Uttar Pradesh, the second largest producer, was slightly lower at 6.39 MT from 6.45 MT in the reported period. Sugar output in Karnataka, the country's third biggest producer, increased to 3.87 MT till February 15 from 3.07 MT. The output in Tamil Nadu has increased to 3,50,000 tonnes from 2,90,000 tonnes, while in Gujarat to 7,78,000 tonnes from 7,25,000 tonnes.

As per the ISMA, the recent hike in minimum selling price of sugar by Rs 2 per kg to Rs 31 will generate additional revenue for the sugar mills and help them in payment of cane price arrears. Cane arrears have touched over Rs 20,000 crore this year and the government raised the minimum selling price of sugar to improve the liquidity of cash-starved mills and enable them to clear the mounting cane dues. India is the second largest sugar producer after Brazil and its annual consumption is around 26 MT.

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