NEW DELHI: Sugar production in India is estimated to touch 25 million tonne in the sugar season 2013-14 starting from October, slightly higher than the current year's 24.5 million tonne, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has estimated.

Good monsoon this year would help augment the sugar production for the coming season, ISMA said. The country's biggest sugar producer Maharashtra's sugar production is likely to be 7.8 million tonne. Sugar recovery for the state would also go up by 11.44%. In Uttar Pradesh, which is the second-largest sugar producer, the sweetener production may touch 7.7 million tonne, the estimate said.

"The ISMA is expecting slightly lower yields from UP than last year's on account of lesser 'millable' sugarcane per hectare availability due to excess rains, which affected the late-sown sugarcane plants this year," said a statement by the industrial body. Karnataka's sugar production is expected to remain at almost the same levels of last year - around 3.4 mt.