NEW DELHI – Prices of medium grade sugar fell in north India's wholesale markets today as mills sold the commodity at lower rates to complete their unsold quota for November, traders said.

Prices fell by 10 rupees per 100 kg in Muzaffarnagar, and by 20 rupees in Delhi.

For November, the government had set the sale quota at 2.05 mln tn. Market participants expect the quota to be 1.9 mln tn for next month.

"Demand was also dull today as only 4-5 trucks were loaded while 10-12 trucks are loaded when the demand is good," said Vijay Kapoor, an official with Muzaffarnagar-based Anshika Sugars.

Prices in Mumbai and Kolhapur were unchanged because of lack of fresh cues.

In Maharashtra, only few mills so far have started crushing cane for this season. However, all the mills are expected to start operations within a week, a Bombay Sugar Merchants' Association official said.

So far, 132 mills have been issued crushing licences and 31 are yet to receive the licences.

On ICE Futures US, futures contracts rose marginally as mills in Brazil's centre-south region produced less sugar during the first half of November at 786,000 tn, down 11.3% on year. At 1742 IST, the March contract of raw sugar was at 12.79 cents a pound, up 0.1% from Tuesday's close.

Mills in the key center-south region diverted just 28.3% of sugarcane for sugar and 71.7% towards ethanol, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association known by its Portuguese acronym UNICA, said.

Prices of the sweetener also rose after the International Sugar Organization raised its global deficit estimate to 6.11 mln tn in 2019-20 (Oct-Sep), from the 4.76 mln tn forecast in September. The global body expects a deficit of 3.5 mln tn in 2020-21 as well.

Production in Thailand and the US has been even lower than expected, leading to the shortfall.

Following are today's ex-mill prices of medium-grade sugar in rupees per 100 kg, at key wholesale markets, and the change from the previous close: