ISMA revises downward sugar output to 30.2 mt for 2020-21

29 January 2021, New Delhi: India’s sugar output estimate has been revised lower by 8 lakh tonnes to 30.2 million tonnes for the ongoing 2020-21 marketing season (October-September), industry body ISMA said on Thursday. The output has been estimated after taking into account a likely diversion of about 2 million tonne of cane juice and B-molasses for ethanol production, it said. However, this year’s sugar production estimate is higher than 27.42 million tonnes achieved in the 2019-20 marketing season.

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In its first estimate, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) had pegged the country’s overall sugar output at 31 million tonne for the current season. According to the second advance estimates, the ISMA said, “The country is expected to produce 30.2 million tonne of sugar during 2020-21.” Sugar production in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest sugar-producing state, is projected to be lower at 10.5 million tonnes in the current 2020-21 season, as against 12.63 million tonnes last season.

But the output in Maharashtra, the country’s second-largest sugar producer, is estimated to increase sharply to 10.54 million tonnes from 6.16 million tonnes in the said period, on account of higher cane supplies in view of a 48 per cent increase in sugarcane area this year. Similarly, output in Karnataka, the country’s third-largest sugar-producing state, is estimated to increase to 4.25 million tonnes this season from 3.49 million tonnes in last season, due to increase in cane area and reportedly better cane yields and better sugar recoveries.