India sugar output to sour further on scanty rains -trade official

Triveni Engineering and Industries

14/11/2018 10:51

* Drought, white grub infestation to cut India sugar output
    * Output seen at 30 mln T vs earlier forecast 32.4 mln T
    * India sugar exports to fall on lower output

    By Rajendra Jadhav
    KARAD, India, Nov 14 (Reuters) - India is likely to produce
7.4 percent less sugar than forecast earlier as mills are
reporting a sharp drop in sugar cane yields due to a drought and
white grub infestations in key growing areas, a senior industry
official told Reuters. 
    The drop will reduce exports from the world's second-biggest
sugar producer and likely help support global prices  SBc1 
 LSUc1  that have fallen 17 percent so far in 2018. 
    "Almost all mills have started operations and are reporting
lower cane yields," said B.B. Thombare, president of the Western
India Sugar Mills Association. 
    "Accordingly, we have to revise our production estimates." 
    India's sugar production could fall to 30 million tonnes in
the 2018/19 marketing year that started on Oct. 1, down from an
earlier estimate of 32.4 million tonnes and the previous year's
production of 32.5 million tonnes, Thombare said. 
    Other trade bodies cut production estimates to between 32
million and 32.4 million tonnes last month, from first estimates
of around 35.5 million tonnes.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nD8N1WS02N  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1WW2V2 
    Though the marketing year starts in October, most Indian
mills start operations in November. 
    "We irrigated on time, applied fertilisers like last year,
but still yield was 30 percent lower this year as scanty
rainfall hit productivity," said Dnyaneshwar Bagal, a farmer
from the western state of Maharashtra, whose cane was harvested
earlier this month. 
    Maharashtra, India's second-biggest sugar producer, received
23 percent less rainfall than normal this year during the
June-September monsoon season, according to state government
data. 
    Some fields were also hit by infestations of white grubs
that rapidly spread due to the lower rainfall, said Balasaheb
Patil, chairman of the Sahyadri co-operative sugar factory in
Maharashtra. 
    "Grubs were eating cane roots. So yield of even the ratoon
crop will be lower next year," Patil said. 
    The ratoon crop is the root stub of cane after the first
harvest that usually remains in the ground for a second harvest.
    Cane yields are lower even in the northern state of Uttar
Pradesh, the biggest sugar producer for India, said a senior
official with a private sugar mill. 
    In Uttar Pradesh, per-hectare cane yields are lower, and the
cane also contains lower sugar than last year, the official
said, who was not authorised to speak to media. 
    The concerns over sugar production has been prompting some
mills to go slow on exports. 
    India has asked sugar mills to export 5 million tonnes of
sugar to trim inventories and has also announced export
incentives.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WC3I7 
    "In the last few days, mills have become reluctant to sign
new export deals. They are expecting an improvement in local
prices," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm. 

 (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Tom Hogue)
 ((rajendra.jadhav@thomsonreuters.com; +91-22-6180-7153 ;
Reuters Messaging:
rajendra.jadhav.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))