Sugar production will go up by 3 lakh tonne this crushing season: ISMA

Sugar production will go up by 3 lakh tonne this crushing season: ISMASugar productions in the country may go up by 3 lakh tonne in the current crushing season, the revised estimate by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has suggested.

The ISMA said sugar production would likely jump from around 240 lakh tonne to around 243 lakh tonne this crushing season.

In Maharashtra, factories have already produced 33 lakh tonne sugar and are expected to produce 35 lakh tonne more by the end of the season. Previously, the association had estimated sugar production for the state at 65 lakh tonne.

Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are also expected to produce more sugar than the previous estimates, while production of sugar will likely drop in the state of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Severe scarcity of water has dragged down sugar production in Tamil Nadu. The previous estimate of sugar production was 25.5 lakh tonne which has now been cut down to 22 lakh tonne.

Latest estimates also suggest that the country will have surplus sugar stock of up to 65 lakh tonne after meeting domestic demand.

The industry's projection is higher than the Government's estimate of 230 lakh tonne to 235 lakh tonne. More production means prices will come down. The bumper crop in Brazil is also expected to drag down prices.

The review has taken into data & satellite images up to January 7 into consideration to arrive at the fresh estimates.