India’s sugar output till April 15 has declined 4.1% from the previous year even as mills narrow the initial deficit in production caused by a delay in cane- crushing this marketing year that started on October 1, showed data by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA).
Sugar production in the country was down 21% year-on-year by mid-January and an even sharper 29% until the end of December. Between October 1 and April 15, the sugar industry produced 23.15 million tonne compared with 24.15 million tonne a year before, the data showed.
As many as 200 sugar mills were still operating as of April 15 compared with 115 a year before, mainly because of the late start of cane-crushing this year. However, the mills that are operating are on the verge of completing their crushing operations, ISMA said.
The country would produce 23.8 million tonne sugar in 2013-14, down 5.3% from a year before, ISMA had forecast last month. However, production would still exceed the expected consumption of 23.5 million tonne, keeping supplies steady. Still, the drop in output may slightly improve realisation of mills, already running at huge losses, as they will be in a better position to cut a glut in the market following years of surplus production.
"The main reasons behind lower sugar production in Uttar Pradesh is damage to the sugarcane crop due to heavy rainfall in eastern UP and a diversion of sugarcane by farmers to alternate sweetener producers to make way for sowing of wheat. Though recovery is good in the state, yield is estimated to be lower than last year," it added.
Maharashtra has produced 7.47 million tonne of sugar until April 15, down 6% from a year before. The state is expected to produce another 3,00,000-3,50,000 tonne this marketing year as the cane- crushing season is drawing to a close.
Sugar output in Uttar Pradesh, the second-largest producer, hit 6.26 million tonne, down 14.1% from a year earlier. Mills in the state crushed 67.6 million tonne of sugarcane compared with 79.30 million tonne a year nefore, the ISMA data showed.
Karnataka produced 2.15 million tonne of sugar by the end of last month compared with 2.43 million tonne in the same period last year. Andhra Pradesh produced 5,10,000 tonne against 567,000 tonne a year earlier. Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have produced 6,10,000 tonne and 4,00,000 tonne compared with 6,82,000 tonne and 6,45,000 tonne, respectively, a year before.
Karnataka produced a record 4.05 million tonne of sugar until April 15 this year compared with 3.35 million tonne during the entire last marketing year. Andhra Pradesh produced 9,80,000 tonne, which is the same as last year.
Despite a downward revision in output, sugar supplies would continue to be ample as the country had started the current year with stocks of 10.77 million tonne, up from 9.27 million tonne a year before. The opening stocks of 2013-14 were the highest since 11.03 million tonne in 2006-07.
In the first half of the current marketing year, sugar mills have dispatched 12.50 million tonne for sale in the domestic market, up 1 million tonnes from a year earlier, thanks to better lifting during the last few months following improvement in market sentiment, ISMA said.