29 October 2021, New Delhi: The Indian Sugar Mills Association, apex body of private mills, has pegged the country’s sugar production lower by 0.5 million tonnes (mt) at 30.5 mt for the current season (October 2021-September 2021) from initial estimates of 31 mt.
ISMA said in a statement on Thursday that estimates have been lowered due to marginal fall in yield and sugar recovery in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s top producer. This is in view of unseasonal rainfall in the eastern parts. Production estimate for this year is against last year’s production of 31.18 mt.
Sugar production will also be lower as sugarcane juice and B-molasses, which can contribute another 3.4 mt to sugar production, will be diverted for ethanol production.
India would require to export about 6 mt of surplus sugar in the 2021-22 season (October-September), it added.
With higher ethanol production capacity and continued surplus sugarcane, a larger quantity of cane juice /syrup and B-molasses will get diverted to ethanol in the 2021-22 season, ISMA added.
