Sugar production in the 2013-14 season is expected to match last year's level of around 25 million tonne. In a statement,

Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the apex body of the sugar industry in India, said this estimate is based on the satellite images of the sugarcane crop in the country in August.

Earlier in July, ISMA had pegged sugar production for the 2013-14 marketing year at 23.7 million tonnes, which it has now revised up to 25 million tonnes because of unprecedentedly high rainfall. “The satellite survey has been vetted with field visits and reports to get a more accurate picture of cane acreage for the ensuing sugar season starting from October 2013,” the statement says.

“As per satellite images, availability of total sugarcane acreage for crushing in India in the sugar season 2013-14 will be around 52.89 lakh hectare, which is almost 9% higher than the initial estimates of the ministry of agriculture of 48.53 lakh hectare, and ISMA has taken other parameters such as cane yield, drawal percentage, recovery, expected factory operations, etc into consideration and finalised that with this kind of sugarcane acreage and an unprecedented very high rainfall in the last few months, sugar production in the sugar season 2013-14 is expected to be about 250 lakh

tonnes,” it says.

According to ISMA's projections, about 7.8 million tonnes of sugar will be produced in Maharashtra on around 9.4 lakh hectare, which is almost similar to last year when production was around 80 lakh tonnes. this is similar to the 2012-13 level. However, Uttar Pradesh is likely to produce 7.7 million tonnes of sugar.

However, ISMA expects slightly lower yields for UP this year on account of lower millable sugarcane-per- hectare availability due to excess rains, which affected the late-sown sugarcane crop this year.

In Karnataka, sugar production is expected to remain at almost the same level as last year’s, i.e., around 34 lakh tonnes while a major decline is expected in Tamil Nadu which. Production there is expected to be 15% lower at 16.4 lakh tonnes compared to last year’s

19 lakh tonnes.

India is the world's biggest consumer and second-largest producer after Brazil. Sugar output for the 2012-13 season stood at 25 million tonnes and was estimated at 23.7 million tonnes by ISMA in July, but after a good monsoon, the estimate has been revised up to 25 million tonnes. The average demand for sugar in the country is

23 million tonnes.