India's sugar output to be higher at 36.5 mn tonnes in 2022-23: ISMA
New Delhi: The country's sugar production is projected to be 36.5 million tonnes in the 2022-23 marketing season, an increase of 2 per cent compared to the year-ago period, industry body ISMA said on Monday.
The marketing season will be starting this month.
The production in India, the world's major producer of the sweetener, stood at 35.8 million tonnes during the 2021-22 marketing season.
The season is from October-September.
With an estimated increase in production despite higher diversion for ethanol, ISMA expects export to be around 9 million tonnes this season.
Releasing the first estimate, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said, "after accounting for the reduction of 45 lakh tonnes in sugar production due to diversion of cane juice/ syrup and B-molasses to ethanol, ISMA estimates sugar production in 2022-23 at around 36.5 million tonnes of sugar."
Sugar output in Uttar Pradesh is estimated to be 12.3 million tonnes, Maharashtra at 15 million tonnes and Karnataka at 7 million tonnes during the 2022-23 season, it said.
Since the target of 12 per cent blending is expected to be achieved, sugar diversion towards production of ethanol is estimated to be higher by 32 per cent at 45 lakh tonnes in the current season as against 34 lakh tonnes during 2021-22 season.
A total of about 545 crore litres of ethanol would be required and supplied during the current season, ISMA said.
On exports, the industry body said the window of timeline for exports appears to be quite short for Indian sugar this year as Brazil sugar will hit the global market by May 2023.
Further, most mills have already contracted sugar for export supplies in the current season. So, an early announcement of sugar export policy by the government should be highly appreciated, it added.
Sugarcane crushing has started in the southern region and is expected to start soon in other regions also. Therefore, a better picture would emerge after a few months when actual trend of yields and sugar recoveries would become available.
As has been the practice, ISMA will again review the sugarcane and sugar production estimates in January 2023.
