Indian sugar mills end season with higher than expected output

Balrampur Chini Mills

01/05/2024 14:04

By Rajendra Jadhav and Mayank Bhardwaj
       MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, May 1 (Reuters) - India's sugar
production has been higher than expected this year after the
completion of cane crushing at most of its mills, industry
officials said on Wednesday, with a late pick-up in rains
raising output.
    With the majority of India's sugar mills having now
completed crushing for the 2023/24 season, output so far stands
at 31.59 million metric tons, according to the National
Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF).
    That is down 1.8% from the previous full year, but already
above the around 29 million metric tons expected at the start of
the current season due to drought in Karnataka and Maharashtra
states. 
    A handful of mills are still left to report, with only
around two dozen of the 532 mills operational this season still
in action, the officials said, including two in top
sugar-producing state Maharashtra and 13 in the northern state
of Uttar Pradesh. 
    Mills in the southern state of Karnataka and the western
state of Gujarat have altogether completed cane crushing.
    November rains helped the sugarcane crop, and yields
improved, Ravi Gupta, executive director at Shree Renuka Sugars
Ltd  SRES.NS , a leading producer, told Reuters.
    Output in Maharashtra has jumped to 11 million tonnes, up
from 10.53 million tonnes produced a year ago, NFCSF said.
Production in Karnataka is estimated at 5.26 million tons, lower
than last year's 5.8 million tons but above initial estimates.
    However Uttar Pradesh was expected to be a laggard, with
production so far around 10.4 million metric tons, according to
a senior industry official who did not wish to be named, and
output still to be reported likely to be marginal.
    It had been forecast to churn out more than 11.5 million
tons of sugar this year.
    Red rot disease hit the cane crop in Uttar Pradesh, while
cane was diverted for the production of alternative sweeteners
such as jaggery, said Avantika Saraogi, executive director at
Balrampur Chini Mills  BACH.NS , a leading producer.

 (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav and Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by
Jan Harvey)
 ((mayank.bhardwaj@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@MayankBhardwaj9;))