Sugar output drops 17.7 lakh tonnes as mills close early

Trade body ISMA has said that Indian mills produced 31.1 million tonnes of sugar since the current season began on October 1, marking a fall of 5.4% year on year, as many mills closed early due to the limited availability of sugar cane.

As many as 532 sugar mills have started their crushing operations so far in the current season across the country, compared to 518 mills that operated last season as on April 15. According to The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), on the corresponding date, 400 mills closed their crushing operations in the current season, while 132 sugar mills were still operating in the country. However, in the last season 2021-22, some 213 mills had closed their crushing operations and 305 mills were operating as on April 15 that year.

Lower sugar output from India, the world's biggest producer of sweeteners, will leave hardly any surplus for additional exports during the current 2022-23 season. Out of 532 mills that started operations in the current season, 400 mills closed operations, including all mills from the top-producing western state of Maharashtra, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said in a statement.

Maharashtra's production fell to 10.5 million tonnes from 12.6 million tonnes produced a year ago, the association said. As per the data, sugar production in Uttar Pradesh rose to 96.6 lakh tonnes from October 1, 2022-April 15, 2023, against 94.4 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period, while output in Karnataka declined to 55.3 lakh tonnes from 58 lakh tonnes.

ISMA has projected production for 2022-23 to 340 lakh tonnes against 358 lakh tonnes in the 2021-22 marketing year. The government allowed mills to export only 6.1 million tonnes of sugar in the 2022-23 season, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration was expected to allow a second tranche of shipments.

India's absence from the market could lift global sugar prices, which were trading near their highest level in more than a decade, and allow rivals Brazil and Thailand to increase shipments, say experts.